Yaron Shalem, the chief financial officer of the centralized cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network, was among those detained in Israel alongside Sirin Labs founder Moshe Hogeg, CoinDesk reports.
Celsius Network noted that it is aware of a police investigation in Israel involving an employee, but did not specify the employee’s name or position.
“Although this has nothing to do with the time or the employee’s work at Celsius Network, he was immediately suspended. We have also confirmed that there are no grounds for misappropriation of funds,” the statement said.
We were recently made aware of a police investigation in Israel involving an employee. While this is in no way related to the employee’s time or work at @CelsiusNetwork, the employee was immediately suspended. We have also verified that no assets were misplaced or mishandled.
— Celsius (@CelsiusNetwork) November 26, 2021
Shalem served as chief financial officer of Moshe Hogeg’s Singulariteam from 2014 to 2018, and joined Celsius Network in 2021. The founder and CEO of the platform, Alex Mashinsky, was listed as an advisor to Sirin Labs as early as 2019.
Earlier, the Israeli police arrested Hogeg on suspicion of cryptocurrency fraud, money laundering, and sex-crime offenses. It was reported that seven other suspects were arrested at that time, most of whom were former or current partners of the entrepreneur and his associates.
All eight are accused of misappropriating millions of shekels and conspiring to mislead investors in cryptocurrency projects. According to a police spokesperson, the suspects knew that these projects would never be realized.
Among the charges against the entrepreneur are criminal conspiracy, fraud with aggravating circumstances, intentional concealment of income, document tampering, and drug-related offenses.
In 2019, Hogeg was sued for misusing more than $4.6 million raised from investors during the Stox platform ICO. The publication notes that Shalem was already mentioned in the case.
In 2021, investors in the entrepreneur’s ICO projects filed a lawsuit to recover $16.1 million from him.
In September, Celsius Network faced accusations by regulators in Alabama, Kentucky, Texas and New Jersey that it sold unregistered securities.
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