Mashinsky was arrested in New York in July of last year on charges of defrauding clients and misleading them about the company's profitability.
Mashinsky currently faces seven criminal charges, including fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation, and could face a maximum sentence of 115 years in prison.
Despite all the charges against him, he pleaded not guilty.
In addition to Mashinsky, U.S. prosecutors have indicted Ronny Cohen, Celsius' former chief revenue officer, on fraud charges.
Cohen faces up to 65 years in prison, and pleaded guilty last year.
For your information, the “Celsius” network was founded in 2017 by “Mashinsky”, and entered the cryptocurrency market in 2018 through an initial coin offering (ICO).
The company saw massive growth during the cryptocurrency boom of 2021, becoming one of the largest digital asset lenders globally.
It then declared bankruptcy in 2022, which caught the attention of regulators.
The SEC has accused Celsius and Mashinsky of raising billions through fraudulent and unregistered cryptocurrency sales, as well as manipulating the price of CEL, the platform’s native cryptocurrency.
According to prosecutors, Mashinsky and Cohen purchased millions of dollars worth of CEL, artificially inflated its price, and sold it for a profit.
The latest memo from Mashinsky’s lawyers underscores the importance of Cohen’s testimony, stating that he provided legal advice to Celsius on how to buy and sell CEL tokens on the open market between 2019 and 2022.
In another context, the administrators of the bankruptcy of Celsius announced earlier this year plans to distribute more than $3 billion in cryptocurrencies and cash to creditors.
The plan also included the creation of a Bitcoin mining company, in which Celsius's existing creditors would take a stake.
The bankrupt company also paid $4.7 billion to U.S. agencies to settle fraud charges.
#AirdropGuide #BinanceTurns7 #FavoriteToken #MarketDownturn #IntroToCopytrading
