Celsius Network founder Alex Mashinsky’s customers want him behind bars for life.
More than 200 victim impact statements, many reviewed by Decrypt, have been submitted to U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl ahead of Mashinsky’s May 8 sentencing, with the overwhelming majority demanding the severest possible punishment for the mastermind behind the failed crypto lender.
“He devastated numerous lives, and there are those who have taken their own lives because of him,” wrote Brandon Lawrence, an investor who says he lost 1.5 Bitcoin (about $141,000 today). “He should face consequences akin to Bernie Madoff and be incarcerated for life.”
The investor pleas come nearly five months after Mashinsky pleaded guilty to two felony counts, admitting to misleading customers about Celsius’s financial health and using their funds to manipulate the price of CEL, the company’s native token.
Bryan Barrett, one of the many who entrusted his savings to Celsius, described the emotional and financial devastation Mashinsky left behind.
The beleaguered investor has urged the court to send a clear message, saying the case was “crucial to restore faith in our justice system” and to show that violations of law and trust “will be met with corresponding severity.”
Once one of the most prominent figures in crypto lending, Mashinsky’s fall marks one of the most dramatic collapses of the 2022 “crypto winter.”
Crypto firms such as Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy weeks later, followed by the implosion of hedge fund Three Arrows Capital. BlockFi struggled to survive the storm and eventually fell alongside FTX in November.
Celsius froze withdrawals in June 2022, trapping $4.7 billion in customer assets, and filed for bankruptcy weeks later.
The Celsius founder was initially indicted on seven criminal charges in July 2023, including wire fraud and market manipulation.
Prosecutors revealed that Celsius used customer funds to artificially inflate CEL’s price, even as Mashinsky personally dumped his holdings onto the market.
Internal communications showed that executives, including then-Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon, knew CEL’s price was artificially propped up, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York.
“The value was fake,” Cohen-Pavon told Mashinsky in a message. “No one is buying except for us.”
Despite the weight of the charges, which carry a maximum 30-year sentence, Mashinsky has asked the court for leniency.
On Wednesday, the New York court officially granted a request from Mashinsky’s lawyers to postpone sentencing from April 8 to May 8.
In their motion filed in February, the defense said it needed more time to submit a statement “that accurately presents Mr. Mashinsky’s views on his offense conduct, along with the many other factors to be considered by the Court.”
At the same time, he quietly sought to bring on two high-profile defense attorneys, Marc Mukasey and Torrey Young, best known for representing FTX co-founder, Sam Bankman-Fried and the Trump Organization.
Edited by Stacy Elliott.
