Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky sentenced to 12 years in multibillion-dollar crypto fraud case
Alexander Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius Network, was sentenced to 12 years in prison on Thursday after pleading guilty to two counts of fraud, a dramatic fall for the leader of a company once hailed as the 'bank' of the crypto industry.
Standing before U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl in Manhattan's Southern District, Mashinsky faced the consequences of what prosecutors described as a sweeping scheme to defraud investors.
In December he pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and a scheme to manipulate the Celsius token.
His sentencing took place in courtroom 14A at 500 Pearl Street — a venue that has seen several crypto executives-turned-felons.
Mashinsky's legal troubles began in 2023 when he was arrested on charges of securities, commodities, and wire fraud, just as Celsius reached a $4.7 billion settlement with the Federal Trade Commission — one of the largest in the FTC's history.
The settlement, which remains contingent on Celsius returning what remains of customer assets in bankruptcy proceedings, underscored the magnitude of the fraud.
Prosecutors accused Mashinsky of misleading investors about the safety and profitability of Celsius's yield-generating platform while secretly selling off tens of millions of dollars in personal holdings.
Though he initially denied wrongdoing, his guilty plea and Thursday's sentencing mark the final chapter in a years-long case that also drew charges from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which accused Celsius and Mashinsky of orchestrating a multi-billion dollar fraud scheme.
Mashinsky's downfall mirrors the fate of other once-dominant crypto executives like FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, Binance's Changpeng Zhao and Do Kwon of Terraform Labs.
FTX
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024 for the massive fraud and conspiracy that doomed his cryptocurrency exchange and a related hedge fund, Alameda Research.
Once celebrated as a crypto wunderkind, Bankman-Fried was exposed for misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds to support his own trading firm, Alameda Research, and for living an extravagant lifestyle in Hong Kong and later the Bahamas.
Caroline Ellison, who led Alameda Research and was romantically involved with Bankman-Fried, received a significantly lighter sentence of two years. Her cooperation with prosecutors proved crucial in unraveling the complex web of fraudulent activities at FTX, allowing authorities to build a strong case against Bankman-Fried and other executives.
Bankman-Fried is in the process of appealing his conviction and sentence.
Ryan Salame, a former top lieutenant of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 90 months, followed by three years of supervised release.
FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh got no jail time and three years of supervised release for his role in the crypto fraud; and Gary Wang, the co-founder and chief technology officer of FTX, also avoided prison time.
In May 2024, the bankruptcy estate of FTX announced that almost all customers would get their money back — and more.
A judge on Wednesday dismissed most of the claims against celebrities and athletes who were involved in promoting FTX in commercials and on other platforms.
Stars like Tom Brady, Gisele Bündchen, Kevin O'Leary and Stephen Curry were among those facing a suit brought by a group of FTX investors.
Binance
In November 2023, Zhao, commonly known as 'CZ,' struck a deal with the U.S. government to resolve a multiyear investigation into Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange.
Zhao stepped down as CEO in 2023 but retained a significant stake in Binance.
In April 2024, Binance's billionaire founder was sentenced to four months in prison after pleading guilty to charges of enabling money laundering at his crypto exchange. He served his sentence at a low-security federal prison in Lompoc, California.
Under new leadership, Binance has undergone a strategic pivot, aligning closely with the Trump administration's pro-crypto stance. CEO Richard Teng described President Donald Trump's second term as a 'fantastic reset' for the cryptocurrency industry, noting a dramatically improved regulatory environment for Binance in the U.S.
Terraform Labs
Months before Bankman-Fried and the FTX fraud was exposed, and years before Binance and its founder would admit fault and settle with the U.S. for several billion dollars, Kwon was widely regarded as crypto's top villain for nearly dismantling the entire sector with his failed U.S. dollar-pegged stablecoin.
It was May 2022, and Kwon was riding high. His company, Terraform Labs, was behind one of the most popular U.S.-pegged stablecoins on the planet, the venture funding was rolling in, his coins (dubbed terra and luna) were collectively worth tens of billions of dollars, and like Bankman-Fried, Kwon had landed a spot on the prestigious Forbes 30 under 30 list.
And then it all came crashing down.
Whereas most stablecoins are backed up by a mix of cash and other assets to match the value of tokens in circulation, Kwon's invention was instead backed by a complex set of code. When the algorithm failed in May 2022, it cost investors $40 billion in market value overnight, led to devastating losses to multiple investors, and contributed to the collapse of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital in June 2022, followed by crypto lenders Voyager Digital, then BlockFi, then Genesis — and, in a roundabout way, FTX too.
The stablecoin's implosion also rocked confidence in the sector and accelerated the slide in cryptocurrencies already underway as part of a broader pullback from risk.
Last June, a judge signed off on Do Kwon and his bankrupt Terraform Labs settling with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for $4.5 billion.
Kwon was extradited to the U.S. from Montenegro to face fraud charges in January 2025.
Ex-crypto tycoons awaiting judgement
The fall of crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, and lenders Voyager Digital and Celsius, can all be traced to the collapse of Kwon's stablecoin project.
When 3AC's lenders asked for some of their cash back in a flood of margin calls, the money wasn't there. Many of the firm's counterparties were, in turn, unable to meet demands from their investors, including retail holders who had been promised annual returns of 20%.
The three companies all went bankrupt and are currently at various stages of settling their debts, with Celsius having just emerged from bankruptcy in January.
3AC co-founder Kyle Davies said he's not sorry for the collapse of his fund, and has so far managed to avoid jail time by bouncing around the world, unlike his co-founder, Su Zhu, who served time in a Singaporean prison.
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