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Update (Dec. 4 at 2:20 pm UTC): This article has been updated to include Alex Mashinsky’s forfeiture details.
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky has reached a plea agreement with United States prosecutors after his lawyers lost a bid to have charges in his criminal indictment dismissed.
In a Dec. 3 conference in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mashinsky said he would plead guilty to commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of the CEL (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/celsius-cel-price-index" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/celsius-cel-price-index">CEL</a>) token.
The former Celsius CEO admitted to making false statements about the platform’s Earn Program that encouraged investors to sell their Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>), earning him an estimated $42 million in profit.
“I said that Celsius had approval from regulators,” <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/innercitypress/status/1864049689114354123" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> Mashinsky, according to reporting from Inner City Press. “It was false. I falsely said I was not selling my CEL tokens. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
The plea agreement allowed Mashinsky to plead guilty to only two charges out of the initial seven <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-attorney-announces-charges-against-former-celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-attorney-announces-charges-against-former-celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky">filed by prosecutors</a> in July 2023 and forfeit $48 million in proceeds from the scheme. According to Judge John Koeltl, the former Celsius CEO could face up to 30 years if given the maximum sentence on both charges, served consecutively.<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CvJQsyDb9cI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Following his guilty plea, Mashinsky was scheduled to be sentenced on April 8. He initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has been free — with some travel restrictions — on a $40-million bond, with a trial that had been expected to begin in January 2025.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/celsius-to-distribute-additional-127m-from-litigation-recovery-account" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Celsius to distribute additional $127M from ‘Litigation Recovery Account’</a>
The plea agreement came roughly a month after Mashinsky’s lawyers <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/alex-mashinsky-celsius-ceo-federal-charges-denied" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">lost a motion</a> to dismiss the two charges to which the former CEO pleaded guilty. Judge Koeltl said in November that the legal team’s arguments were “either moot or without merit,” setting the grounds for the January criminal trial to move forward.
<h2 id="ex-crypto-executive-could-join-colleagues-in-prison">Ex-crypto executive could join colleagues in prison</h2>
Mashinsky, who resigned as the CEO of Celsius in September 2022, is one of the biggest names in the crypto industry to face possible prison time following the criminal indictments against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Bankman-Fried was <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-years-prison-hold" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-years-prison-hold">convicted and sentenced to 25 years</a> in prison, while Zhao pleaded guilty and served four months.
Celsius’ former chief revenue officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, who was also a party to manipulating the CEL price, pleaded guilty to four felony charges in September 2023. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 11.&nbsp;
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/celsius-alex-maskinsky-ftx-sam-bankman-fried-court-inner-city-press-x-hall-of-flame/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame</a>
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky has reached a plea agreement with United States prosecutors after his lawyers lost a bid to have charges in his criminal indictment dismissed.
In a Dec. 3 conference in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Mashinsky said he would plead guilty to commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of the CEL (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/celsius-cel-price-index" rel="" target="_self" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/celsius-cel-price-index">CEL</a>) token. 
The former Celsius CEO admitted to making false statements about the platform’s Earn Program that encouraged investors to sell their Bitcoin (<a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">BTC</a>), earning him an estimated $42 million in profit.
“I said that Celsius had approval from regulators,” <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://x.com/innercitypress/status/1864049689114354123" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">said</a> Mashinsky, according to reporting from Inner City Press. “It was false. I falsely said I was not selling my CEL tokens. I accept full responsibility for my actions.”
The plea agreement allowed Mashinsky to plead guilty to only two charges out of the initial seven <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-attorney-announces-charges-against-former-celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-attorney-announces-charges-against-former-celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky">filed by prosecutors</a> in July 2023. According to Judge John Koeltl, the former Celsius CEO could face up to 30 years if given the maximum sentence on both charges, served consecutively. <iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CvJQsyDb9cI" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Following his guilty plea, Mashinsky was scheduled to be sentenced on April 8. He initially pleaded not guilty to all the charges and has been free — with some travel restrictions — on a $40-million bond, with a trial that had been expected to begin in January 2025.
Related: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/celsius-to-distribute-additional-127m-from-litigation-recovery-account" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">Celsius to distribute additional $127M from ‘Litigation Recovery Account’</a>
The plea agreement came roughly a month after Mashinsky’s lawyers <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/alex-mashinsky-celsius-ceo-federal-charges-denied" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">lost a motion</a> to dismiss the two charges to which the former CEO pleaded guilty. Judge Koeltl said in November that the legal team’s arguments were “either moot or without merit,” setting the grounds for the January criminal trial to move forward.
<h2 id="ex-crypto-executive-could-join-colleagues-in-prison">Ex-crypto executive could join colleagues in prison</h2>
Mashinsky, who resigned as the CEO of Celsius in September 2022, is one of the biggest names in the crypto industry to face possible prison time following the criminal indictments against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. Bankman-Fried was <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-years-prison-hold" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank" text="null" title="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-years-prison-hold">convicted and sentenced to 25 years</a> in prison, while Zhao pleaded guilty and served four months.
Celsius’ former chief revenue officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, who was also a party to manipulating the CEL price, pleaded guilty to four felony charges in September 2023. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Dec. 11.&nbsp;
Magazine: <a data-ct-non-breakable="null" href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/celsius-alex-maskinsky-ftx-sam-bankman-fried-court-inner-city-press-x-hall-of-flame/" rel="null" target="null" text="null" title="null">‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky set for less jail time than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame</a>

Alex Mashinsky to plead guilty to two charges in plea deal

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