- The trial for former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is scheduled for September 17, 2024
- Mashinsky faces multiple charges, including securities fraud and manipulation of the Celsius token’s value.
- The seven counts against him carry a maximum tariff of 150 years in prison
The trial for Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius, has been set for September 17, 2024, where he will face charges of securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and conspiracy related to the manipulation of the Celsius token’s value. Celsius went bankrupt in 2022 with debts exceeding $1 billion, and Mashinsky was arrested in June after being charged with multiple crimes by the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York.
Celsius Collapse Triggered Bear Market
The collapse of Celsius triggered a series of notable company failures within the cryptocurrency space, ultimately culminating in the downfall of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX in November. Mashinsky was immediately criticized by Celsius customers for claiming that the company was on a solid financial footing when in fact it was standing on a cliff edge in a strong wind.
Mashinsky stepped down in September 2022 and it didn’t take long for the authorities to investigate him; in January this year, the New York Attorney General, Letitia James, filed a civil lawsuit against the former CEO, accusing him of defrauding investors out of billions of dollars in digital currency. Since then, the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission have launched civil lawsuits against Mashinsky and Celsius, alleging fraudulent practices that harmed customers who relied on the company for earning returns by lending out their tokens.
150 Years in Prison for Mashinsky?
Worse was to come for Mashinsky and his former Chief Revenue Officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, this July, however, when the US Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York unsealed very serious charges:
Alex Mashinsky, with orchestrating a scheme to defraud customers of Celsius through a series of false claims about the fundamental safety and security of the Celsius platform, and for participating in a scheme with Celsius’s Chief Revenue Officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, to inflate the price of Celsius’s proprietary token, CEL.
If found guilty on all seven charges against him, Mashinsky faces up to 150 years in prison.
