Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is scheduled to report to federal prison on Friday following a guilty plea and sentencing hearing.
According to documents filed on May 12, a few days after Mashinsky’s sentencing hearing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, the former CEO is expected to surrender himself to authorities before 2:00 pm ET on Friday.
The court recommended that Mashinsky serve his sentence at the Federal Prison Camp in Otisville, New York — a minimum security facility about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from New York City.
Before the crypto market downturn likely precipitated by the collapse of the Terra ecosystem in 2022, Celsius was one of the largest crypto companies in the industry, along with FTX and others.
The company filed for bankruptcy in the US in July 2022, followed by Mashinsky’s resignation as CEO a few months later.
Legal battles and felony charges
Celsius exited bankruptcy in January 2024, later beginning its distribution of about $3 billion worth of assets to creditors.
According to court documents filed in June, Mashinsky forfeited all claims to the company during bankruptcy proceedings.
Initially indicted on seven felony charges in July 2023, the former CEO was scheduled to go to trial before his lawyers lost a motion to have the counts related to commodities fraud and manipulating the price of the Celsius (CEL) token dismissed.
The company’s former chief revenue officer, Roni Cohen-Pavon, pleaded guilty to four felony charges and is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 17.
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Cointelegraph reached out to Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon’s legal team for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.
Mashinsky was one of the most significant figures in the cryptocurrency and blockchain industry who faced criminal charges and prison time, along with former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, and Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon.
Bankman-Fried was convicted and is serving a 25-year sentence in a California prison, Zhao pleaded guilty and served four months, and Kwon awaits sentencing after a guilty plea in August.
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