Kirkland & Ellis billed nearly $20 million for its services from July through October. White & Case LLP, which represents Celsius’ creditors, has billed $10.2 million for its services from July 29 to October 31, according to a filing. The next highest was charged by Alvarez & Marsal North America LLC a financial adviser for debtors has asking for $6.5 million, a separate filing showed. Another adviser M3 Advisory Partners LLP has sought $4 million during the period. Eleven firms working on the liquidation process of Celsius have filed their compensation applications, which also include requests for reimbursement of expenses.
Celsius, once one of the crypto’s most prominent lenders, succumbed after making risky bets during a $2 trillion rout in the digital tokens industry and ended up seeking bankruptcy protection in July. Litigation and professional service fees for companies working on Celsius could be substantial given the time and number of people involved in the process. Alvarez cited 29 people working on the case with one managing director putting in 725.2 hours at $975 hourly rate among five others who worked for more than 700 hours, the filing showed.
Celsius, which had 1.7 million customers, is in a protracted bankruptcy battle with some of them in bankruptcy court over cryptocurrency ownership. As part of its effort to recover every penny Celsius is seeking to sue bankrupt Voyager Digital LLC to get back $7.7 million worth of crypto.
