The founder and ex-CEO of controversial, bankrupt cryptocurrency firm Celsius Network, in which Caisse de Depot has invested $200 million, was arrested in New York on Thursday morning, Portal agency reports.
In all, Caisse’s ex-partner Alex Mashinsky, 57, faces seven criminal charges, including several for fraud.
His former chief financial officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, faces four charges.
In recent years, the controversy over Celsius has caused a lot of excitement. Its former chief financial officer has been arrested by Israeli police and allegations of Ponzi fraud have been repeatedly leveled at the crypto company linked to the Quebecers’ woolen stocking.
200 million lost
A year ago, the CEO of the Caisse de depot etplacement du Québec (CQCD) made his mea culpa on the file.
“We’ve made the prudent decision to take it immediately (delist it),” he said.
Last year, Le Journal revealed that a vice-president of the Caisse de Depot, Thomas Birch, once ran a company in which Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky had invested.
“There was no real or apparent conflict of interest and the process of analyzing the file proceeded as usual,” Kate Monfette, spokesperson for the fund, assured the Journal.
More details to come.