Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of Celsius’s native token, facing up to 20 years in prison. Arrested in 2023, Mashinsky was accused of defrauding customers by misrepresenting Celsius’s financial health to secure crypto deposits and sustain the platform’s services. Celsius, a crypto lending platform offering interest and loans, declared bankruptcy in 2022 and ceased operations earlier this year.
After Alex Mashinsky pleaded guilty, CEL rose more than 22%.
Prosecutors allege Mashinsky misled investors about Celsius’s profitability while inflating the price of CEL tokens. Regulators, including the SEC, have also pursued him for fraudulent and unregistered fundraising, along with false claims about the company’s stability. Despite the guilty plea and lack of any infrastructure, the crypto token CEL is up more than 22% today. The story was first reported on by Inner City Press.
