Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the collapse of the cryptographic lender Celsius Network, faces the prospect of passing the following two decades behind bars if the request for the memo of determining the sentence of the United States Ministry of Justice is granted.
In the memo lodged on Monday evening, the MJ urged the court to impose a 20 -year prison sentence, qualifying the crimes of “deliberate and calculated” fraud which caused nearly $ 7 billion in customer losses and left thousands of financially devastated people.
Mashinsky, who pleaded guilty in December for disturbing the security of customer deposits and manipulating the CELSIUS token, “refuses to accept responsibility” of his crimes and continues to fall back on regulators, market conditions and even his victims, prosecutors said.
“Mashinsky’s crimes were not the product of negligence, naivety or bad luck,” they wrote. “They were the result of deliberate and calculated decisions to lie, deceive and steal in search of personal fortune.”
At its peak in 2021, Celsius managed more than $ 20 billion in customer cryptographic assets. Mashinsky aggressively marketed the platform as a safe alternative to banks, promising high yields and a low risk.
The prosecutors said that these promises were an imposture: Celsius contracted non -polled loans, made risky trades and secretly used customer assets to manipulate the price of its CEL token – while publicly ensuring customers that their funds were safe.
Mashinsky has personally sold more than $ 48 million in inflated prices, prosecutors said, even though he told customers that he “made fun”. When Celsius collapsed bankrupt in July 2022, around $ 4.7 billion in customer funds were trapped.
After bankruptcy, customers ended up with a deficit exceeding $ 1 billion. Adjustment for cryptography prices today after 2024, Trump’s trade rally, prosecutors estimate that total loss is closer to $ 7 billion.
Prosecutors have warned that something less than an important prison sentence would not reflect the severity of the driving of Mashinsky, undermines the law and sends the wrong message to other Crypto leaders attempted to continue personal enrichment at the expense of their customers.
Judge John G. Koeltl will condemn Mashinsky on May 8.
