Celsius Founder Alex Mashinsky Sentenced to 12 Years for Crypto Fraud Linked to CEL Token Manipulation

In a landmark case for the cryptocurrency industry, Alex Mashinsky, the founder of Celsius, faces a 12-year prison sentence due to his involvement in significant crypto fraud. As reported by Coindesk on May 9th, Mashinsky’s two main charges carry concurrent sentences of 120 and 144 months. In addition to jail time, he has consented to forfeit $48 million along with various properties. The prosecution highlighted that prior to Celsius’s downfall in 2022, Mashinsky misled investors regarding the safety of their deposits and falsely stated that the platform enjoyed regulatory backing. Moreover, he denied issuing uncollateralized loans, while secretly profiting from illicit actions that inflated the value of the CEL token, leading to illegal gains exceeding $48 million. His unethical practices culminated in Celsius’s bankruptcy, which resulted in a staggering deficit of $1.2 billion on its balance sheet.