Celsius withdraws motion to hire CFO back at $92,000 a month

Embattled lending platform Celsius has withdrawn its motion to bring back ex-CFO Rod Bolger at $92,000 a month, prorated over a period of at least six weeks, according to a court document filed in the Southern District of New York on Friday. The notice of withdrawal came just ahead of a hearing scheduled for Monday to review it.

While Bolger worked full-time with the company as CFO, the original motion shows that he had a base salary of $750,000 and a performance-based cash bonus of up to 75% of his base, in addition to stock and token options, bringing the top of his total income range to around $1.3 million. The filing also indicated that Bolger is technically still on the company’s payroll.

“On June 30, 2022, Mr. Bolger gave notice to the Debtors that he was voluntarily terminating his employment,” reads the filing. “In accordance with his Termination Notice and the terms of his Employment Agreement (as defined below), Mr. Bolger is required to give the Debtors eight weeks’ notice, which he has done, and he is continuing to serve as an employee of the Debtors.”

Had the motion been approved, it is unclear whether Bolger potentially would have received compensation of $62,500 (his monthly base salary), in addition to the monthly $92,000 consulting fee Celsius had requested. The filing stated that he was continuing to serve as an employee of Celsius, but it also noted that Bolger was “not entitled to any severance payments.”

CNBC reached out to Celsius to ask about the terms of the proposed motion but did not immediately hear back to our request for comment, sent outside business hours.

The decision to dismiss the motion came three days after CNBC first reported on the request to enlist the help of Bolger as a consultant during the bankruptcy process. It also follows a formal objection submitted by Keith Suckno, a CPA and Celsius investor who challenged the move by Celsius, alleging that “little detail” was given for why Bolger’s services were necessary to the bankruptcy proceedings.

In the original motion, Celsius said it needed Bolger to help it navigate the bankruptcy proceedings as an advisor, “because of Mr. Bolger’s familiarity with the Debtors’ business.” It went on to say that during Bolger’s tenure, he led efforts to steady the business during turbulent market volatility this year, guiding the financial aspects of the business and acting as a leader of the company.

Bolger, a former CFO for Royal Bank of Canada and divisions of Bank of America, was previously with Celsius for five months before resigning on June 30, about three weeks after the platform paused all withdrawals.