Celsius Won't Bring CFO Back as Adviser for $93K per Month After All

A Celsius backer had formally objected to bringing Bolger back, alleging he was either not well informed or intentionally misled investors
Bolger said he was “happy” the lender’s liquidity practices just days before withdrawal freezes

Celsius has reverted its intention to retain its former chief financial officer as an adviser, right before a hearing on the matter was set to take place.

The cryptocurrency lender withdrew its earlier motion in a Friday filing, which had requested the right to keep banking veteran Rod Bolger on throughout its bankruptcy proceedings. Celsius didn’t provide a reason for its change of mind.

Celsius originally filed to seek Bolger’s advisory services on July 25, with a court hearing scheduled for today (Monday). If the motion were approved, Celsius would have paid Bolger 120,000 Canadian dollars ($92,800) per month as an adviser, prorated for partial months.

The firm paid Bolger $750,000 per year base salary, as well as a performance-based cash bonus of up to 75% alongside stock and token options, according to court documents. Bolger was first hired in February and only spent five months at Celsius in total. He previously served as chief financial officer at Royal Bank of Canada.

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Bolger resigned on June 30, about three weeks after the platform froze withdrawals on its network. But his voluntary termination required serving an eight-week notice period, meaning he’s technically still employed at Celsius and will continue receiving a base salary until the end of August.

Celsius didn’t return Blockworks’ request for comment by press time.

Would-be adviser Bolger lauded Celsius liquidity before collapse

The lender’s move to withdraw the motion follows a formal objection by investor Keith Suckno. In an August 2 filing, Suckno said Celsius failed to explain why Bolger’s services were required and drew attention to alleged provision of “false information” days prior to the withdrawal freeze.

He pointed to a company blog post published on June 8, in which the former executive overstated the firm’s financial position.

In that post, Bolger said he was happy about Celsius’ “strong liquidity framework, established practices around liquidity data” and that the firm was “in a strong position to weather the recent market turbulence.”

Suckno objected to Bolger’s appointment as an adviser, saying he was either not well informed or intentionally misled investors.

After Bolger’s resignation, Celsius promoted head of investor relations Chris Ferraro to chief financial officer. The lender filed for bankruptcy just two days later. Its native token CEL has lost two-thirds of its value so far this year, but its price has more than doubled in the past month, Blockworks Research shows.

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