US DOJ requests 20-year sentence for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky

Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the now-defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, faces a 20-year prison sentence as the US Department of Justice (DOJ) seeks a severe penalty for his role in a multibillion-dollar fraud.
The DOJ on April 28 filed the government’s sentencing memorandum against Mashinsky, recommending a 20-year prison sentence for his fraudulent actions, which led to billions of dollars in losses for Celsius customers.
The 97-page memo mentioned that Celsius users were unable to access approximately $4.7 billion in crypto assets after the platform halted withdrawals on June 12, 2022.
“The Court should sentence Alexander Mashinsky to twenty years’ imprisonment as just punishment for his years-long campaign of lies and self-dealing that left in its wake billions in losses and thousands of victimized customers,” the DOJ stated.
Mashinsky’s personal benefit was $48 million
In addition to the investor losses, the DOJ noted that Mashinsky has personally profited from the fraudulent schemes in his role.
As part of his guilty plea in December 2024, Mashinsky admitted that he was the leader of the criminal activity at Celsius, that his crimes resulted in losses in excess of $550 million, and that he personally benefited more than $48 million, the DOJ said.
The DOJ highlighted that Mashinsky’s guilty plea showed that his crimes were “not the product of negligence, naivete, or bad luck,” but rather the result of “deliberate, calculated decisions to lie, deceive, and steal in pursuit of personal fortune.”
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Magazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious prison move: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26
Bitcoin (BTC) $ 102,880.00
Ethereum (ETH) $ 2,588.18
Tether (USDT) $ 1.00
XRP (XRP) $ 2.53
BNB (BNB) $ 650.38
Solana (SOL) $ 174.82
USDC (USDC) $ 0.999940
Dogecoin (DOGE) $ 0.234207
Cardano (ADA) $ 0.794133
TRON (TRX) $ 0.273025
Lido Staked Ether (STETH) $ 2,584.81
Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) $ 102,753.00
Sui (SUI) $ 3.87
Chainlink (LINK) $ 16.77
Wrapped stETH (WSTETH) $ 3,100.90
Avalanche (AVAX) $ 24.55
Stellar (XLM) $ 0.304232
Shiba Inu (SHIB) $ 0.000016
Hedera (HBAR) $ 0.204501
Hyperliquid (HYPE) $ 25.00
LEO Token (LEO) $ 8.89
Toncoin (TON) $ 3.24
Bitcoin Cash (BCH) $ 399.10
Litecoin (LTC) $ 99.98
Polkadot (DOT) $ 4.92
USDS (USDS) $ 0.999837
WETH (WETH) $ 2,586.92
Monero (XMR) $ 345.96
Pi Network (PI) $ 0.878105
Wrapped eETH (WEETH) $ 2,761.98
Pepe (PEPE) $ 0.000014
Bitget Token (BGB) $ 4.73
Binance Bridged USDT (BNB Smart Chain) (BSC-USD) $ 1.00
Ethena USDe (USDE) $ 1.00
Coinbase Wrapped BTC (CBBTC) $ 102,834.00
WhiteBIT Coin (WBT) $ 30.29
Uniswap (UNI) $ 6.63
Bittensor (TAO) $ 444.01
NEAR Protocol (NEAR) $ 3.01
Dai (DAI) $ 0.999822
Aptos (APT) $ 5.77
Aave (AAVE) $ 228.35
OKB (OKB) $ 54.33
Ondo (ONDO) $ 1.01
Kaspa (KAS) $ 0.120002
Jito Staked SOL (JITOSOL) $ 210.15
Ethereum Classic (ETC) $ 19.70
Internet Computer (ICP) $ 5.57
Tokenize Xchange (TKX) $ 36.16
Cronos (CRO) $ 0.101001
BlackRock USD Institutional Digital Liquidity Fund (BUIDL) $ 1.00
Official Trump (TRUMP) $ 13.22
Gate (GT) $ 21.71
Mantle (MNT) $ 0.774653
Render (RENDER) $ 5.02
VeChain (VET) $ 0.029939
sUSDS (SUSDS) $ 1.05
Cosmos Hub (ATOM) $ 5.06
Ethena (ENA) $ 0.388541
POL (ex-MATIC) (POL) $ 0.246382
Ethena Staked USDe (SUSDE) $ 1.17
USD1 (USD1) $ 1.00
Artificial Superintelligence Alliance (FET) $ 0.809027
Lombard Staked BTC (LBTC) $ 102,753.00
Arbitrum (ARB) $ 0.424587
Filecoin (FIL) $ 3.02
Algorand (ALGO) $ 0.232815
Celestia (TIA) $ 2.98
Fasttoken (FTN) $ 4.37
Worldcoin (WLD) $ 1.23
Sonic (prev. FTM) (S) $ 0.558637
Bonk (BONK) $ 0.000022
Jupiter Perpetuals Liquidity Provider Token (JLP) $ 4.60
Binance-Peg WETH (WETH) $ 2,588.90
Maker (MKR) $ 1,852.23
First Digital USD (FDUSD) $ 0.999662
Jupiter (JUP) $ 0.520583
Binance Staked SOL (BNSOL) $ 184.35
Quant (QNT) $ 100.54
Kelp DAO Restaked ETH (RSETH) $ 2,694.87
KuCoin (KCS) $ 11.33
Stacks (STX) $ 0.914973
Optimism (OP) $ 0.810365
Sei (SEI) $ 0.249541
Flare (FLR) $ 0.019921
Fartcoin (FARTCOIN) $ 1.30
Virtuals Protocol (VIRTUAL) $ 1.97
Story (IP) $ 4.57
Immutable (IMX) $ 0.696743
NEXO (NEXO) $ 1.26
Injective (INJ) $ 12.82
Rocket Pool ETH (RETH) $ 2,932.92
EOS (EOS) $ 0.780509
XDC Network (XDC) $ 0.074572
The Graph (GRT) $ 0.119546
dogwifhat (WIF) $ 1.13
USDT0 (USDT0) $ 1.00
Solv Protocol BTC (SOLVBTC) $ 102,763.00
FLOKI (FLOKI) $ 0.000108
Raydium (RAY) $ 3.36