NY Bankruptcy Judge Gives Celsius the Green Light to Pursue $4.3B Lawsuit Against Tether
The bankrupt crypto lender filed suit against Tether last year, alleging that Tether improperly liquidated nearly 40,000 bitcoins — worth over $4.3 billion at today's prices — that it was holding as loan collateral in June 2022, shortly before Celsius halted withdrawals. In their suit, Celsius' lawyers argued that Tether didn't give Celsius enough time to satisfy its collateral demands, which they claimed it had 'sufficient Bitcoin on its balance sheet' to do so 'given that Celsius had instituted a 'pause' on customer withdrawals … resulting in the retention of, and access to, a significant amount of Bitcoin.'
'If Celsius had been given the opportunity to meet the collateral demand — which it had a contractual right to do — it could have been able to avoid the disposition of its Bitcoin at near the bottom of the cryptocurrency market,' Celsius' lawyers wrote. 'Instead, that disposition was carried out for the benefit of just one creditor: Tether.'
At the time the suit was filed, Tether pledged to fight it, calling the suit 'baseless' and a 'shameless litigation money grab' in a press statement. Tether claimed that Celsius executives directed the liquidation of its BTC collateral held by Tether in 'in order to close out its roughly 815 million USDT position' with the company.'Rather than recognize the clear validity of the agreement entered into years before Celsius' bankruptcy, this lawsuit seeks to improperly impose the costs of Celsius' mismanagement and failure on Tether,' the company's statement said.
However, the judge overseeing the case disagreed with Tether, arguing in his Monday order that Celsius' then-CEO Alex Mashinsky — who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud in May — 'alleged oral permission' given to Tether to liquidate Celsius' bitcoin collateral was 'insufficient' and that not giving Celsius the 10-hour window to post collateral allotted by the two firms' contract could still be a breach of contract, verbal permission or not.
In his June 30th order, Chief Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) granted threw out only one count of the amended complaint, Count 4, which alleged that Tether breached the 'covenant of good faith and fair dealing' under British Virgin Islands law. For that count, Glenn decided to dismiss it without prejudice, giving Celsius' lawyers the opportunity to amend it with 'facts sufficient to bring themselves within the requirements of BVI law.'
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We urge you to keep SINOVAC's Board in place and vote on the WHITE proxy card "AGAINST" Proposal 1 to remove the current Board and "AGAINST" Proposal 2 to appoint the Reconstituted Imposter Former Board Slate. Your vote is critical to ensuring that SINOVAC remains on the path to stability, growth, and value creation for all shareholders. DISCARD any items you received asking you to vote for the Reconstituted Imposter Former Board Slate. If you have already voted for the Reconstituted Imposter Former Board Slate, you can subsequently revoke it by using the WHITE proxy card or WHITE voting instruction form to vote. Only your latest-dated vote will count! If you have questions about how your vote can be counted, please contact our proxy solicitor, Georgeson LLC, toll free at (844) 568-1506 in the U.S. and (646) 543-1968 outside the U.S. or via email at SinovacSpecialMeeting@ About SINOVAC Sinovac Biotech Ltd. (SINOVAC) is a China-based biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the R&D, manufacturing, and commercialization of vaccines that protect against human infectious diseases. SINOVAC's product portfolio includes vaccines against COVID-19, enterovirus 71 (EV71) infected Hand-Foot-Mouth disease (HFMD), hepatitis A, varicella, influenza, poliomyelitis, pneumococcal disease, etc. The COVID-19 vaccine, CoronaVac®, has been approved for use in more than 60 countries and regions worldwide. The hepatitis A vaccine, Healive®, passed WHO prequalification requirements in 2017. The EV71 vaccine, Inlive®, is an innovative vaccine under "Category 1 Preventative Biological Products" and commercialized in China in 2016. In 2022, SINOVAC's Sabin-strain inactivated polio vaccine (sIPV) and varicella vaccine were prequalified by the WHO. SINOVAC was the first company to be granted approval for its H1N1 influenza vaccine Panflu.1®, which has supplied the Chinese government's vaccination campaign and stockpiling program. The Company is also the only supplier of the H5N1 pandemic influenza vaccine, Panflu®, to the Chinese government stockpiling program. SINOVAC continually dedicates itself to new vaccine R&D, with more combination vaccine products in its pipeline, and constantly explores global market opportunities. SINOVAC plans to conduct more extensive and in-depth trade and cooperation with additional countries, and business and industry organizations. Important Additional Information and Where to Find It In connection with SINOVAC's Special Meeting, SINOVAC has filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") and mailed to shareholders of record entitled to vote at the Special Meeting a definitive proxy statement and other documents, including a WHITE proxy card. SHAREHOLDERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO READ THE PROXY STATEMENT AND ALL OTHER RELEVANT DOCUMENTS WHEN FILED WITH THE SEC AND WHEN THEY BECOME AVAILABLE BECAUSE THOSE DOCUMENTS WILL CONTAIN IMPORTANT INFORMATION. Investors and other interested parties will be able to obtain the documents free of charge at the SEC's website, or from SINOVAC at its website: You may also obtain copies of SINOVAC's definitive proxy statement and other documents, free of charge, by contacting SINOVAC's Investor Relations Department at ir@ Safe Harbor Statement This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "may," "will," "expect," "anticipate," "aim," "estimate," "intend," "plan," "believe," "potential," "continue," "is/are likely to" or other similar expressions. Such statements are based upon current expectations and current market and operating conditions and relate to events that involve known or unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company's or Board's control, which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. Further information regarding these and other risks, uncertainties or factors is included in the Company's filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The Company and Board do not undertake any obligation to update any forward-looking statement as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required under law. 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