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Judge sees 'smoke' in Chapter 11 miner case, orders $1.5M bond

Sun, Sep 14, 2025, 4:15 PM 3 min read

A Delaware bankruptcy judge has ordered the creditors who forced cryptocurrency miner Mawson Infrastructure Group Inc. into Chapter 11 to post a $1.5 million bond and pay $204,000 in contempt fines for continuing legal action overseas after the bankruptcy was filed.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary F. Walrath said the order was necessary because there was “enough smoke” to question whether the involuntary Chapter 11 petition against Mawson was filed in bad faith, possibly in collusion with the company’s former CEO, James Manning. This case was first reported by Law360.

The petitioning creditors, W Capital Advisors Fund, Marshall Investments MIG Fund, and Rayra Party Ltd. are all based in Australia.

She also found them in contempt for pursuing a liquidation proceeding in Australia despite the automatic stay triggered by Mawson’s U.S. bankruptcy in December. “It is clear” that continuing with that case violated U.S. law, Judge Walrath said.

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Mawson Infrastructure Group is a cryptocurrency mining company focused on digital asset infrastructure and energy-efficient bitcoin mining. It was founded in 2019 in Sydney, Australia, by James Manning and later expanded operations to the U.S. and other regions. The firm positioned itself as a “digital infrastructure provider."

Mawson, once a prominent Bitcoin miner, has repeatedly claimed that the bankruptcy petition was part of a long-running vendetta by Manning, who served as CEO from the company’s 2019 founding until stepping down in May 2023, and left the board entirely in August that year.

In a January filing, Mawson alleged Manning had engaged in “self-dealing" including more than $11 million in payments to a shipping company, Flynt International Cargo Solutions, that the miner “did not need.” Mawson said Manning had an ownership stake in Flynt.

"Manning did not inform Mawson that he was seeking and eventually had financial interests in Flynt ICS, nor did he update the Company upon his securing self-serving financial interests with Flynt ICS or seek board approval for his financial interests with Flynt ICS despite the substantial payment amounts," the filing states.

Mawson told the court that since the involuntary petition was filed, its stock price has dropped about 75% and now faces the risk of being delisted from Nasdaq. Manning, its counsel alleged, has “made threats to Mawson," and telling a third party that "he was going to “burn Mawson to the ground,” and threatening to put Mawson into involuntary bankruptcy if certain demands, including for compensation, were not me." as per the filing.

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