A U.S. federal judge dismissed most claims brought by the Celsius litigation administrator against Chainalysis but allowed one aiding-and-abetting claim tied to Celsius’s disputed 2020 asset statement to proceed. The court’s order dismissed 15 counts in total, twelve with prejudice and three without prejudice, giving the plaintiffs until Oct. 20 to amend those three consumer-protection claims or notify the court they will not do so. The surviving claim alleges Chainalysis aided Celsius insiders in breaching fiduciary duties by participating in and helping disseminate a press release that described roughly $3.3 billion in assets as an “audit.”
According to the complaint as summarized in the order, Chainalysis provided Reactor software work that initially produced about $1.177 billion in assets on Nov. 2, 2020, before internal methodology changes—allegedly including accounting for Celsius’s own CEL holdings—yielded a figure of approximately $3.318 billion. The Dec. 9, 2020 release announced exactly $3,318,368,196.40 in assets and used terms such as “audit,” “independent verification” and “third-party verification.” BRIC alleges Chainalysis helped draft and approve that release and knew those descriptions were false or misleading. Chainalysis sought dismissal of the entire complaint.
Judge Margaret Garnett emphasized that the ruling was made at the motion-to-dismiss stage and that the court must accept well-pleaded allegations as true for that purpose, not decide facts. The court found the complaint sufficiently alleged knowledge and “substantial assistance” to support an aiding-and-abetting claim at this stage, and declined to dismiss Count One based on Chainalysis’s in pari delicto defense because factual disputes remain. The case is part of BRIC’s broader recovery efforts for the collapsed Celsius estate; next fixed procedural deadlines center on Oct. 20 for potential amendments and ongoing opportunities for Chainalysis to contest liability.