Celsius Network founder and former CEO Alex Mashinsky has pleaded guilty to two criminal charges against him in a crypto fraud case.
In 2023, Mashinsky was arrested for defrauding customers and misleading them about Celsius Network’s profitability or overall financial health.
Prosecutors then charged the Celsius Network founder with securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud.
Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York noted that he “repeatedly made public misrepresentations regarding core aspects of Celsius’s business and financial condition in order to induce retail customers to provide their crypto assets to Celsius and continue to use Celsius’ services.”
Revisit to Alex Mashinsky’s Market Manipulation Fraud
Mashinsky faced legal debacles with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
The agency indicted him for allegedly raising billions through fraudulent and unregistered crypto sales.
Precisely, the allegations hinges on the manipulation of the price of CEL. This action earned him up to $42 million in profit.
The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) also agreed to the claims against Mashinsky.
He has now pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of CEL, the firm’s native token.
The businessman understands that these offenses could earn him up to 20 years in prison, especially after his lawyers failed to get the charges dismissed.
Even Judge John Koeltl thinks Mashinsky could face up to 30 years if given the maximum sentence on both charges. Following his guilty plea, his sentence hearing is now scheduled for April 8, 2025.
Celsius Network Crypto Meltdown and Bankruptcy
As it rounded up its bankruptcy proceedings, Celsius Network has tried to recover funds to repay its creditors.
It recently initiated legal action against Tether Limited in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. This suit was filed through its Blockchain Recovery Investment Consortium, LLC.
It filed this suit to retrieve around $2.4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) from the USDT stablecoin issuer.
A few weeks later, Celsius Network said it had distributed over $2.53 billion in its bankruptcy proceedings.
For the breakdown, the firm made payments in both cash and cryptocurrencies to about 251,000 customers.
The recipient of these funds represents 66% of creditors in terms of numbers. All payments were based on the market price as of January 16, 2024.
The hedge fund tried to clear other payments, but over 121,000 creditors are yet to claim their payouts.
What is Alex Mashinsky’s fate?
While Celsius Network tries to fix its creditors’ repayment completely, Mashinsky faces the possibility of spending time in jail.
This means he might join the likes of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year jail time for defrauding the exchange’s customers.
Binance Founder Changpeng Zhao recently returned from prison after serving a four-month sentence.
Meanwhile, Celsius’ former chief revenue officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, will have his sentence hearing on December 11.
He was part of the team manipulating the CEL price and pleaded guilty to four felony charges.
