The United States Securities and Exchange Commission has filed an objection to Celsius Network’s reorganization plan based in part on the regulator’s own ongoing lawsuit with crypto exchange Coinbase.
On Sept. 22, the SEC filed a limited objection and reservation of rights with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York over Celsius’ most recently proposed restructuring plan. The fourth revision of the bankruptcy plan, filed on Aug. 15, followed an initial proposal in March but has not been approved.
A supplement to the reorganization plan proposed a distribution services agreement with Coinbase, which Celsius sought to file under seal. The SEC claimed in its objection that the deal may require Coinbase to “go far beyond the services of a distribution agent,” potentially providing services at issue in the commission’s civil suit filed in June.
“The Debtors have confirmed that they do not intend for Coinbase to provide brokerage services to the Debtors, despite the language in the Coinbase Agreements to the contrary,” says the filing. “However, this Court should not be asked to approve a deal where the material terms are missing or inconsistent.”
Revisions to the Celsius restructuring plan have been ongoing since March, while Coinbase faces an SEC lawsuit over allegedly offering unregistered securities. In a Sept. 25 post on X (formerly Twitter), Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong and chief legal officer Paul Grewal said the exchange was “proud to engage with Celsius” in its efforts to return user funds:
Coinbase is proud to engage with Celsius to distribute crypto back to its customers. I wonder, why would the SEC object to a trusted US public company taking on this role? We look forward to addressing this with the bankruptcy court and undertaking our important role to make… https://t.co/5i1aJDiPXp
The bankruptcy court filing followed Celsius announcing a deal with Core Scientific in which the mining firm agreed to sell a mining data center to Celsius in exchange for $14 million in cash and settling all existing legislation between the two firms. According to Core Scientific, Celsius had defaulted on its payments since filing for bankruptcy in July 2022.
In August, the bankruptcy court approved Celsius sending out digital ballots to vote on the restructuring plan in October. The next hearing in the bankruptcy case is scheduled for Oct. 5.
Jess Phillips has said “there is no place” where violence against women and girls “doesn’t happen” – as a new law is set to make spiking a criminal offence.
Earlier on Friday, the government said spiking will now be its own offence with a possible 10-year prison sentence as part of the Crime and Policing Bill, which will be introduced in parliament next week.
It also announced a nationwide training programme to help workers spot and prevent attacks.
Speaking to Sky News correspondent Ashna Hurynag, the safeguarding minister said that while spiking is already illegal under existing laws, the new classification will simplify reporting the act for victims.
“Spiking is illegal – that isn’t in question, but what victims and campaigners who have tried to use the legislation as it currently is have told us is that it’s unclear,” Ms Phillipssaid.
Image: Spiking will be made a criminal offence, carrying a sentence of up to 10 years. Pic: iStock
UK ‘was never safe’ for women
When asked if the UK is becoming a less safe place for women, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: “I don’t think it’s becoming less safe, if I’m being honest. I think it was never safe.”
Speaking about a rise in coverage, Ms Phillips said: “We have a real opportunity to use that, the sense of feeling [built by campaigners] in the country, to really push forward political change in this space.”
“The reality is that it doesn’t matter whether it’s the House of Commons or any pub in your local high street – there is no place where violence against women and girls doesn’t happen, I’m afraid,” she added.
Spiking is when someone is given drugs or alcohol without them knowing or consenting, either by someone putting something in their drink or using a needle.
Police in England and Wales received 6,732 reports of spiking in the year up to April 2023 – with 957 of those relating to needle spiking.
London’s Metropolitan Police added that reports of spiking had increased by 13% in 2023, with 1,383 allegations.
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November 2024: If you got spiked would you report it?
As part of the nationwide training programme, a £250,000 government-funded scheme was started last week to teach staff how to spot warning signs of spiking crimes, prevent incidents and gather evidence.
It aims to train 10,000 staff at pubs, clubs and bars for free by April this year.
Alex Davies-Jones, minister for victims and violence against women and girls, said in a statement that “no one should feel afraid to go out at night” or “have to take extreme precautions to keep themselves safe when they do”.
“To perpetrators, my message is clear: spiking is vile and illegal and we will stop you,” he said. “To victims or those at risk, we want you to know: the law is on your side. Come forward and help us catch these criminals.”
Colin Mackie, founder of Spike Aware UK, also said the charity is “delighted with the steps being taken by the government to combat spiking”.
He added: “Spiking can happen anywhere, but these new initiatives are the first steps to making it socially unacceptable and we urge anyone that suspects or sees it happening, not to remain silent.”