Celsius: Mashinsky banned and sentenced for fraud

Alex Mashinsky was banned from CFTC markets and sentenced to 12 years in prison for fraud tied to Celsius’s collapse, which caused over $5 billion in client losses.

Alex Mashinsky, founder and former CEO of Celsius, has been permanently banned from participating in regulated markets by the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). This follows a consent order issued by a federal court in New York, which prohibits Mashinsky from operating, registering, or engaging in any activity under CFTC oversight. He is also barred from serving as an agent, employee, or executive of any CFTC-registered entity. This ban accompanies a 12-year prison sentence after Mashinsky pleaded guilty to fraud related to Celsius’s collapse, which left customers unable to access over $5 billion in deposits. He was also fined $50,000 and ordered to pay $48 million in restitution. The CFTC’s resolution closes its civil case against Mashinsky, though he also faced lawsuits from the SEC and FTC, and was permanently banned from the crypto industry by the FTC. This marks the CFTC’s first completed case against a digital asset lending platform.