Founder and former CEO of the bankrupt cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network Alex Mashinsky received a sentence in the form of 12 years in prison. In late 2024, he pleaded guilty to fraud. Federal prosecutors said that Mashinsky, 59, deliberately misled customers about the security of Celsius and artificially inflated the value of the native token, CEL.
On May 8, Mashinsky was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John Koeltl. This is one of the longest criminal cases that in 2022 after the catastrophic collapse of the crypto market. Sam Bankman-Fried, who ran the FTX exchange, is already serving a 25-year sentence for fraud. Although he has filed an appeal.
A minimum of 20 years was requested for the Celsius founder, as Mashinsky caused billions of dollars in damage and received more than $48 million in personal benefits.
Mashinsky served a year and stated that he felt guilty and wanted to make things right for his family and former Celsius clients. His sentence includes three years of supervised release and the confiscation of $48.4 million.
Celsius was founded in 2017. It filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 after customers rushed to withdraw their deposits due to the global drop in cryptocurrency prices.
Mashynsky, 59, was born in Ukraine, emigrated with his family to Israel, and then moved to New York.
Source: Reuters
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