Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky sentenced to 12 years in prison
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Summary
Former CEO of Celsius cryptocurrency firm, Alex Mashinsky, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding investors leading to “billions in losses”.
In June 2022, Celsius, which held $25bn in assets at its peak, halted withdrawals and transfers, filing for bankruptcy a few weeks later.
Last year, the Department of Justice charged Mashinsky with securities fraud, alleging he had inflated the price of Celsius’s token, CEL, by buying hundreds of millions of dollars worth on the open market.
In December 2023, Mashinsky pleaded guilty to one count of securities fraud and one count of commodities fraud.
The DOJ’s prosecution of Mashinsky represents an increasingly tough stance on crypto regulation by the Biden administration, in contrast to the Trump administration’s more lenient approach.