Publisher says it is trying to scrub all traces of the “Mashinsky Method” book
A book once slated to be published by Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and founder of bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, has been pulled before it could ever hit shelves, with the title’s publisher trying to “remove all traces of it online .”
The Mashinsky Method: The Decentralized Path to Financial Freedom was the name of an upcoming book on financial literacy by Alex Mashinsky with a tentative release date set for sometime in June.
It promised to teach his “7-step method” of “how to protect your assets and how to create compound returns […] Using stablecoins and other crypto like Bitcoin” according to a description on Amazon.
An Australian bookseller had the price of the title set at around $32 ($46.25 Australian dollars).
The book’s publisher, Wiley, reconfirmed in a tweet on February 6 that the book “has been cancelled” after a Twitter user came across a listing of the supposedly upcoming book.
“Once a book is cancelled, it can be a complex process to remove all traces of it online,” Wiley added. It said it was working with retailers to update their data to show the book would no longer be published.
Wiley first confirmed the book would not be published in a November 2022 tweet. At the time, it said it was working with retailers to update the data.
Cointelegraph has contacted Wiley about the cancellation, but did not immediately receive a response.
The crypto community was already skeptical about the release of the book ever since the Celsius debacle. The tweet from Wiley has seemingly closed the book on such speculation.
Mashinsky is currently being sued by the New York State Attorney General, who announced a lawsuit on January 5 alleging that the former CEO defrauded investors out of billions of crypto.
It said his actions before Celsius declared bankruptcy contributed to investor losses as he misrepresented Celsius’ financial condition and failed to comply with regulatory requirements.
Related: Celsius’ proposal to extend restructuring plan timeline faces objections from creditors
The crypto lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022 and has around 600,000 users with crypto freezes in Celsius accounts.
Just weeks before the company froze customer funds and declared bankruptcy, Mashinsky allegedly withdrew $10 million from the platform, raising questions about whether Mashinsky knew the company would freeze funds and file for bankruptcy.
In a 470-page report, a bankruptcy court-appointed examiner found on Jan. 31 that the platform used customer funds in a “very Ponzi-like” manner.
The investigator also documented how Mashinsky tried to personally exert control over the price of the platform’s native CEL token, a failed effort that led to Celsius using cryptocurrencies from customers to fund its CEL buybacks when it did not earn sufficient returns.
