Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky Sentenced to 12 Years for $7B Crypto Fraud
Alex Mashinsky, ex-CEO of crypto lending platform Celsius Network, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for defrauding investors and manipulating the value of the CEL token. He pleaded guilty in December 2024 to securities and commodities fraud, admitting he misled users about the company's financial stability while secretly profiting from selling his CEL holdings.
As part of the deal, Mashinsky will forfeit $48 million in illicit gains. Prosecutors had pushed for a 20-year sentence, citing $7 billion in losses and widespread harm to customers. His lawyers, however, argued for a lighter sentence of just over a year, calling the government's recommendation excessively harsh for a 59-year-old first-time, nonviolent offender.
