"I convinced them to pay real money for fake money, stole the fake money, and exchanged it afterwards for real money" is not an argument that is likely to convince the SEC (or a jury).
not an argument that is likely to convince the SEC (or a jury).
Mainly because your argument is wrong all the way around.
Celsius never accepted any "real money" from anyone. Any "fake money" they allegedly "stole" came from their own account, not those of their customers.
That doesn't pass the sniff test: people clearly entered the market with actual money (even if they didn't directly pay Celsius), and left with none.
You can argue (perhaps correctly) that they shouldn't have traded their real money for funny money, but it's ultimately no different from any other financial instrument.
