Collapse of Celsius Leads to Demand for 20-Year Prison Term Against Mashinsky
Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius Network, is facing a potential 20-year prison sentence after the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) submitted a memorandum detailing their case against him. The DOJ argues that Mashinsky's guilty plea in December 2024, as part of a plea deal, confirms his crimes were intentional and calculated acts of fraud.
According to the memorandum, Mashinsky's actions were carried out through deliberate deception and theft. This includes admitting to earning $48 million by offloading CEL tokens before Celsius collapsed in June 2022. The DOJ characterizes Mashinsky as a scapegoat for every corporate action, every group decision, every unanimous vote, every market fluctuation, and every employee's watercooler speculation.
U.S. federal prosecutors have also submitted victim impact statements from hundreds of individuals who suffered financial losses in the Celsius collapse. The DOJ's pursuit of a 20-year sentence is due to Mashinsky's refusal to accept the government's overblown portrayal of him as having engaged in fraud from the outset.
Mashinsky's legal team, however, contends that he should face no more than a 366-day sentence. They argue that the DOJ failed to properly weigh Mashinsky's status as a nonviolent, first-time offender with a previously clean record over a three-decade career in business. The memorandum filed by Mashinsky's legal team characterizes the recommended sentence as a "death-in-prison sentence."
Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 13, 2022, and ultimately owed $4.7 billion to creditors. By August 2024, $2.53 billion had been distributed to 251,000 affected customers. The restructuring plan was approved by a U.S. bankruptcy court in November 2023.
If the court grants the DOJ's request, Mashinsky would be nearly 80 years old by the time of his release. The final decision on the sentence against Alex Mashinsky is made by the presiding judge at the court handling his case, though the specific name of the judge or court is not explicitly mentioned in the available information.
Initially, Celsius faced seven charges filed in July 2023. The recommended sentence is based on Mashinsky's role in deceiving Celsius users and personally profiting from the manipulation of the platform's native token. The ABSOLUTE final decision on the sentence will be made by the presiding judge in the court handling Mashinsky's case.
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