Celsius founder and ex-CEO Alex Mashinsky is facing two decades in prison for his role in the multibillion collapse of the former crypto lending firm.
According to a new court filing, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York is asking a federal judge to sentence Mashinsky to at least 20 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to crimes that led to billions of dollars in losses for Celsius customers.
“In sum, this case is on par with other white-collar crimes that have been met with sentences at and above 15 years. Given the number of aggravating factors here, the Government respectfully recommends a sentence of at least 20 years. Alexander Mashinsky committed a massive fraud: through calculated deception and exploitation, he inflicted catastrophic financial and emotional harm on thousands of victims.
He enriched himself while destroying lives, and even today refuses to acknowledge what he did. For these reasons, the Government respectfully submits that the Court should impose a substantial term of imprisonment, in an amount of at least 20 years, to reflect the seriousness of the offense, promote respect for the law, provide just punishment, and afford effective deterrence.”
In December, Mashinsky pleaded guilty to one count of commodities fraud and one count of securities fraud.
As part of his plea, Mashinsky also agreed to forfeit the $48 million in proceeds he generated as a result of his scheme by selling the CEL token.
Said the DOJ said in a December statement,
“Artificially inflating the price of CEL allowed Mashinsky to sell his own CEL holdings for a substantial profit. Mashinsky personally reaped approximately $48 million in proceeds from his sales of CEL. At various times, Mashinsky made false and misleading public statements about his own sales of CEL, claiming that he was not selling CEL, when, in reality, he was taking advantage of the upward price manipulation he had orchestrated by contemporaneously selling huge quantities of his CEL on the market, including, on occasion, to Celsius itself.”
Mashinsky’s sentencing is scheduled for May 8th.
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