Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison Interpretation: CEL currency price manipulation, cryptocurrency fraud

Alex Mashinsky, the founder of Celsius, a cryptocurrency lending platform that once dominated the currency circle, was sentenced to 12 years in prison for involvement in cryptocurrency fraud and market manipulation.

In December, Alex Mashinsky pleaded guilty to two counts, including commodity fraud and another fraudulent offense that manipulated the price of Celsius native tokens.

In court, Alex Mashinsky's lawyer had begged for a light sentence, suggesting that the sentence should not exceed "year and day"; but the prosecution emphasized that the case should be sentenced to 20 years. In the end, the judge ruled that Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison, and the two charges were executed together. In addition, he agreed to hand over $48 million and multiple properties.

On the day of the verdict, John Koeltl, judge of the Southern District of New York, said in court: "No matter how long the sentence is, it cannot heal the financial and psychological trauma of the victims."

Alex Mashinsky was arrested in 2023. The prosecutor pointed out that he had long misled customers and exaggerated Celsius' profitability. Even when the company's financial situation deteriorated, he still lied to the public that the platform's funds were safe and misled the public that the platform had obtained approval from the regulatory authorities, but in fact he secretly provided unsecured loans, which were extremely risky.

The prosecutor detailed that while manipulating the price and profit of CEL currency, Alex Mashinsky concealed the fact that he continued to sell tokens, and made a profit of more than $48 million with CEL alone.

Prosecutors said that Alex Mashinsky's leadership and selfish behavior eventually led Celsius to the abyss of bankruptcy in 2022, leaving a funding black hole of up to $1.2 billion; the prosecutor emphasized that if calculated based on the current currency price, the actual gap may approach $7 billion.

Preliminary bankruptcy information shows that after Celsius went bankrupt that year, more than 100,000 creditors around the world suffered a total loss of US$4.7 billion.

Judge John Koeltl also ordered that Alex Mashinsky must report to serve his sentence before September 12 this year, and under the plea agreement, he has waived his right to appeal, which is a final judgment.

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