U.S. prosecutors have over 200 statements from victims in their cases against the ex-CEO of Celsius, Alex Mashinsky.
In 2023, Alex Mashinsky, Cohen Pavon, and other Celsius executives were charged with securities fraud, wire fraud, commodity fraud, and other crimes. Each of the 7 charges against Mashinsky carried anywhere from 5 to 20 years in maximum potential sentences. Ex-Celsius chief revenue officer Cohen Pavon also has four charges against him.
The statements contain around 418 pages of victims describing in detail how they were impacted by the collapse of Celsius. A huge portion of the statements called for the maximum allowable sentence on Alex Mashinsky. At least two called for the court to go easy on the former CEO, as reported by Cointelegraph.
What is Celsius?
The Celsius network was a yield-earning service that allowed users to deposit crypto. The company offered loans with crypto used as collateral as well. Celsius Network stopped all withdrawals in mid-2022 during one of the largest crypto crashes in recent years
The crash was initially sparked by the collapse of LUNA, a key token based on the Terra blockchain. The massive dip in this token’s price led to many other crypto networks suffering a huge loss of value and an overall crypto market rout. Celsius was one of the affected companies.