Celsius’ proposed employee bonus plan draws U.S. trustee objection

By Sarah Lizee

Olympia, Wash., April 14 – Celsius Network LLC’s motion seeking approval of a key employee incentive plan drew an objection from Region 2 U.S. trustee William K. Harrington, according to documents filed Friday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York.

The debtors are seeking authority to provide 10 insiders up to $2.86 million in bonuses.

“While the debtors have styled the KEIP as an incentive plan, the KEIP appears to be a disguised retention plan,” the U.S. trustee said in his objection.

The tasks listed by the debtors as a basis for bonuses require little more than the participants do in their jobs while the Chapter 11 cases are pending, Harrington said.

“What the debtors have defined as ‘benchmarks’ are merely layups that are solely in the discretion of the KEIP participants,” the U.S. trustee stated.

Harrington added that many of the tasks identified by the debtors are verbatim the same tasks identified as the basis for the key employee retention plan bonuses that were approved in December.

The Hoboken, N.J.-based cryptocurrency lending platform filed bankruptcy on July 13, 2022 under Chapter 11 case number 22-10964.

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