Former Celsius CEO sentenced to 12 years in prison for crypto related fraud: Inner City Press

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison, Inner City Press reported on Thursday. Prosecutors previously said Mashinksy "orchestrated one of the biggest frauds in the crypto industry."

People lost their life savings and suffered psychologically, said Judge for the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York John George Koeltl, according to Inner City Press. 

Mashinsky, 59, pleaded guilty to two counts in December, including commodities fraud and another about a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of the firm's native token, CEL. He was arrested in 2023 after prosecutors said he defrauded customers and misled them about Celsius’ profitability. Mashinsky also faced charges involving securities fraud and wire fraud.

Mashinsky's lawyers had asked for a sentence of no more than 366 days, while prosecutors said the former executive should spend 20 years in jail. 

On Wednesday, Mashinsky's lawyer asked the judge if the former executive could travel to Memphis later this month to attend his daughter's wedding, according to the filing.

"We inquired as to the government’s position, and they informed us as follows: 'At this time, we don’t expect to oppose voluntary surrender. Given that the wedding date is so close and that pretrial approves, we also don’t object to the travel modification,'" his lawyer said. 

On Thursday, Judge Koeltl said Mashinsky had to surrender to the prison by Sept. 12, according to Inner City Press. 

Celsius operated as a crypto lender that allowed customers to earn interest and take out loans. The firm filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and was later wound up in 2024. As part of Celsius' wind-down, some funds were used to create a new bitcoin mining company called Ionic Digital.