PANews reported on December 4 that according to multiple reports cited by The Block, former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky has pleaded guilty in a New York court to two charges, including commodity fraud and a fraud scheme to manipulate the price of Celsius' native token. These charges could result in him facing up to 20 years in prison.
Masinsky was arrested in 2023 and prosecutors accused him of defrauding customers and misleading the public about the true profitability of Celsius. Celsius operated as a crypto lending platform, allowing customers to earn interest and provide loan services, but filed for bankruptcy in 2022 due to financial crisis.
In addition, Mashinsky and Celsius are also facing charges from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that they raised billions of dollars through unregistered crypto asset sales and made false statements to investors on multiple occasions, including manipulating the price of their token CEL. Currently, Celsius has been liquidated, and part of the funds were used to create a new company, Ionic Digital, to engage in Bitcoin mining business.
