In a landmark event within the cryptocurrency sphere, Alex Mashinsky, ex-CEO of Celsius has admitted wrongdoing in relation to charges of fraud and market manipulation. Through his guilty plea, Mashinsky has given his nod to a prison sentence that could last up to 30 years.
Mashinsky was officially charged in July 2023 with seven different counts of crime including conspiracy, fraud, and meddling with the market vis-à-vis the CEL token belonging to Celsius. In provincial terms, Mashinsky has agreed not to lodge an appeal against any verdict that is lower than 360 months of prison time.
The courtroom on Dec. 3 saw Mashinsky acknowledging his role in deceitfully persuading Celsius investors to invest in the platform. The deceit also extended to deliberate inflation of the CEL token value to pad his personal income and strengthen the financial position of the company. Federal prosecutors’ have claimed that Mashinsky cleverly crafted lures for potential investors with promising high returns, camouflaging the fact that he was manipulating the cost of CEL tokens. His illicit actions pocketed him a whopping $42 million resulting from his assets’ sales.
Mashinksy’s confessional follows his ex-colleague and Celsius’ former Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon’s guilty plea back in September 2023. The two admittances mark a grim phase in the once flourishing crypto lender company, Celsius, which filed bankruptcy in July 2022 following customer panic and subsequent bombardment of withdrawal requests with sinking crypto asset prices. Although Celsius ventured into bitcoin mining post its official bankruptcy exit in January 2023, Mashinksy’s scandal has sent shockwaves through the crypto industry once again.