Celsius is trying to rehire its CFO at $92,000 a month, docs say

Struggling lending platform Celsius wants to bring back former chief financial officer Rod Bolger and pay him around $92,000 a month, pro-rated over a period of at least six weeks. The embattled lender says it needs Bolger to help it navigate the bankruptcy process as counsel, according to a petition filed with the Southern District of New York.

“Because of Mr. Bolger’s familiarity with Debtors’ businesses, Debtors have requested, and Mr. Bolger has agreed pending Court approval, to continue to provide advisory and consulting services to Debtors in accordance to a consulting agreement,” the filing reads. “In consideration for the consulting services rendered by Mr. Bolger, the Debtors agree to pay Mr. Bolger the sum of CAD$120,000 per month, prorated for partial months.”

The motion goes on to say that during Bolger’s tenure, he led efforts to stabilize the company during turbulent market volatility this year, guiding the financial aspects of the business and acting as a business leader. Ultimately, it’s up to the Southern District of New York to decide whether to allow Bolger to join Celsius. A Zoom hearing is scheduled for Monday, August 8 to consider the motion.

Bolger, a former chief financial officer of Royal Bank of Canada and divisions of Bank of America, was previously with the company for five months before stepping down on June 30, about three weeks after the platform suspended all withdrawals, citing ” extreme market conditions”. While working full-time with the company as CFO, this motion shows he had a base salary of $750,000 and a performance-based cash bonus of up to 75% of his base, in addition to stock options and tokens, bringing the top of his total income to around $1.3 million.

The company then appointed Chris Ferraro, then head of financial planning, analysis and investor relations for Celsius, as chief financial officer. A few days after his appointment, the company filed for bankruptcy.

Once a titan of the crypto lending world, Celsius is in bankruptcy proceedings and facing claims that it was running a Ponzi scheme by paying first depositors with money it obtained from new users.

At its peak in October 2021, CEO Alex Mashinsky said the crypto lender had $25 billion in assets under management. Now Celsius is down to $167 million “in cash,” which it says will provide “sufficient liquidity” to support operations during the restructuring process. Celsius owes its users about $4.7 billion, according to its bankruptcy filing.

This filing also shows that Celsius has more than 100,000 creditors, some of whom lent money to the platform without any collateral to back up the arrangement. Its list of top 50 unsecured creditors includes Sam Bankman-Fried’s trading company, Alameda Research, as well as a Cayman Islands-based investment firm.

Retail investors have filed demands with the judge to help them recover some of their lost assets, with some saying their savings have effectively been wiped out.

A CPA and Celsius investor with a large balance trapped on the Celsius platform filed an objection on Tuesday challenging Celsius’s motion to reinstate its former chief financial officer.