The founder of Celsius Network, Alexander Mashinsky, was sentenced Thursday to 12 years in prison for having fraudd clients on millions of dollars in a crypto loans system which collapsed in 2022. The American district judge John G. Koeltl described the crimes as “extremely serious”, noting that Mashinsky, 59, personally won out of $ 45 million, While many customers have been devastating. Reports. Mashinsky “has won tens of millions of dollars while its customers have lost billions,” American lawyer Jay Clayton said.
Celsius, once presented as a safe place for investors, to arouse interest on cryptographic assets, has filed a bankruptcy after risky financial measures involving some $ 20 billion in customer deposits has been revealed. Prosecutors argued that Mashinsky deliberately deceived customers from the security of their investments while exaggerating the stability and profitability of the company. The assistant prosecutor of the United States Allison Nichols said that Mashinsky had “practiced hope”, selling investors vulnerable to the promises he knew that he could not hold. Mashinsky pleaded guilty to a transfer manager in securities and a chief of fraud on raw materials in December, reports the rod.
During the hearing of determination of the sentence in New York, the defense of Mashinsky awarded the company’s failure to the net slowdown in the cryptocurrency markets in 2022, denying that he acted in a malicious or planned manner. Victims’ statements have described significant difficulties and a representative of the Victims Committee said that nearly 250 victims had died before seeing compensation or justice. Mashinsky has sobbed out several times while he apologized to customers. (This content was created using AI. Read our AI policy.)
