Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky will reportedly see out his 12-year prison sentence in a facility that was once described by Forbes as “Bernie Madoff’s desired retirement home.”
The FCI Otisville facility, located in the State of New York, is divided into a minimum security camp and a medium security prison. Judge John Koeltl sentenced Mashinsky for fraud relating to the manipulation of Celsius’s token and recommended that he go to the FCI Otisville Camp.
Otisville has previously been home to the likes of Donald Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, Fyre Festival creator, Billy McFarland, and Kenneth I. Starr, the former financial advisor to Al Pacino and Martin Scorsese.
The facility was also listed as one of the top 10 cushiest prisons in America by Forbes in 2009, with the outlet noting that it’s often requested by Jewish convicts due to the facility’s access to a rabbi and kosher food.
It’s even referenced in the hit show Succession as a “Jewish prison.”
Read more: Diddy joins SBF, Avraham Eisenberg in ‘horrific’ Brooklyn prison
Prison consultancy firm Elizabeth Franklin-Best (EFP) also published high praise for the prison from its clients. Inmates said FCI Otisville was safe and “very laid-back,” even claiming that it “feels more like a college campus than a prison.”
One inmate claimed, “Staff do not harass and are generally helpful. No politics or violence. The commissary is good. Lots of stuff to do in recreation.”
The co-founder of White Collar Advice, prison consultant Justin Paperny, described the warden’s approach to furloughs at FCI Otisville Camp as “liberal.”
One of his clients even described it as “the best camp in the federal system” and labeled it “an old age home for felons.”
“Over half the camp is Jewish. I eat on the kosher line and we have good meals every day,” they said, adding “I think I eat better here than I do at home.”
Alex Mashinsky likely to be ‘very bored’ in prison
However, inmates also claimed that there is a lack of educational opportunities and programming, and complained that everyone is “fighting boredom.”
EFP’s clients also noted that the staff openly discriminate against LGBTQ inmates and sex offenders at the facility.
While it may be a far cry from Sam Bankman-Fried’s time in a “horrific” Brooklyn prison, Otisville is still a correctional facility, and Mashinsky’s new life for the next 12 years won’t exactly be a “cushy” one, as Forbes might say.
