Publisher says it's trying to scrub all traces of 'Mashinsky Method' book

A book once slated to be released by Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO and founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency lender Celsius, has been pulled before it could ever hit the shelves and the publisher of the title is trying to "remove all trace of it online."

The Mashinsky Method: The Decentralized Path to Financial Freedom was the name of an upcoming financial literacy book by Alex Mashinsky with a tentative release date set for sometime in June.

It promised to teach his "7-step method" on "how to protect your assets and how to create compounding yield [...] Using stablecoins and other crypto such as Bitcoin" according to a description on Amazon.

One Australian book retailer had the price of the title set to around $32 ($46.25 Australian dollars).

The book's publisher, Wiley, reconfirmed in a Feb. 6 tweet that the book "has been canceled" after a Twitter user came across a listing of the purportedly upcoming book. 

This book has been cancelled. Please be aware that once a book is cancelled, removing all trace of it online can be a complex process. We’re continuing to work with retailers and other partners to update their data with correct information.

"Once a book is canceled, removing all trace of it online can be a complex process," Wiley added. It said it was working with retailers to update their data to show the book would no longer be released.

Wiley first confirmed the book wouldn't be published in a November 2022 tweet. At the time, it said it was working with retailers to update the data. 

Cointelegraph has reached out to Wiley about the cancellation but did not receive an immediate response.

The crypto community already harbored skepticism regarding 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 Attorney General’s office, which announced a lawsuit on Jan. 5 alleging the ex-CEO defrauded investors out of billions worth of crypto.

It said his actions prior to Celsius declaring bankruptcy contributed to investor losses as he misrepresented Celsius' financial condition and failed to follow regulatory requirements.

Related: Celsius‘ motion to extend timeline for restructuring plan faces objection from creditors

The crypto lender filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022 and has around 600,000 users with crypto frozen in Celsius accounts.

Just weeks before the company froze customer funds and declared bankruptcy, Mashinsky allegedly withdrew $10 million from the platform raising questions on whether Mashinsky knew the company would be freezing funds and filing for bankruptcy.

In a 470-page report, a bankruptcy court-appointed examiner found on Jan. 31 the platform used customer funds in a “very Ponzi-like” manner.

The examiner also documented how Mashinsky tried to personally exert control over the price of the platform's native CEL token, an unsuccessful effort that led Celsius to use customer cryptocurrencies to fund its CEL buybacks as it wasn't earning sufficient yield.

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