Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of the cryptocurrency company collapsed Celsius Network, could incur up to 20 years in prison if the recommendation of determining the sentence of the United States Ministry of Justice is approved.
Federal prosecutors said that Mashinsky was the architect of a several-year fraud and self-feeding regime that has led to billions of dollars in consumer loss. Mashinsky finally admitted to having lied to customers of the security of their investments and the self-size in the CEL token.
According to a 97 -page government conviction memorandum Placed on April 28, Celsius users were unable to obtain around $ 4.7 billion in cryptographic assets after June 12, 2022, when the platform closed its doors.
Prosecutors say a severe sentence was necessary to dissuade other bad actors in the cryptocurrency space. The conviction is set for May 8.
“The court should condemn Alexander Mashinsky to twenty years' imprisonment as a simple punishment for his campaign of lies and self-fric
The Doj urges a 20 -year sentence for Mashinsky on a deliberate fraud regime
In the note filed on Monday evening, the MJ urged the court to send it to prison for at least 20 years, qualifying its crimes a “deliberate and calculated” fraud regime which ruined the economy of thousands of people and led to nearly $ 7 billion in customers.
Earlier, prosecutors said Mashinsky, who entered guilt In December to manipulate the Celsius token and falsely represent the security of customer deposits, refused to take responsibility for its crimes and blamed its victims, regulators and market forces.
In addition, on the basis of their argument concerning Mashinsky's crime, they wrote that his crimes were not the result of a lack of wisdom, negligence or unhappiness. They revealed that they were the result of conscious and well thought out choice to fly, lie and deceive to increase his richness.
It all started in 2021 when Celsius managed more than $ 20 billion in customer cryptocurrency assets at its peak, largely by the aggressive promotion by Alex Mashinsky of the platform as a high-efficiency alternative to the traditional bank.
However, the prosecutors said that these insurances were false, saying that Celsius had publicly assured customers that their money was secure while committing to risky trade, contracting non -collateralized loans and secretly using customer assets to manipulate the price of his CEL token.
Manhattan federal prosecutors accused Mashinsky and the former Celsius revenue director Roni Cohen-Pavon, of manipulating the company's crypto token market. Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty in September 2023 and agreed to cooperate with the survey of prosecutors.
While Mashinsky appeared as a key figure in Celsius fraud, others were also involved in the massive cryptocurrency scam, notably Shlomi Daniel Leon, who co-founded Celsius with Mashinsky in 2017.
Former director of the Celsius strategy (CSO), Leon left his job in October 2022, months after the collapse of Celsius in June.
In July 2023, the Federal Trade Commission accused Leon, as well as Mashinsky and another co-founder, Hanoch Goldstein, and issued a fine of $ 4.7 billion against the bankrupt lender.
Mashinsky led a loss of $ 7 billion for customers
Prosecutors said Mashinsky had personally sold more than $ 48 million in inflated prices while pretending to “bang” with its customers. In July 2022, Celsius filed for bankruptcy, trapping around $ 4.7 billion in customer funds.
After bankruptcy, customers were faced with a deficit of more than a billion dollars. Prosecutors calculate the overall loss to be closer to $ 7 billion after taking into account the current prices of cryptocurrencies after the “Trump-Trade” rally in 2024.
To conclude the necessary measures concerning the law of Mashinsky, nothing less than a substantial prison mandate, according to the accusation, would adequately transmit the gravity of Mashinsky's actions, would erode legal respect and send the bad message to other cryptocurrency leaders who could be tempted to continue their own financial gain at the costs of their customers.
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