Alex Mashinsky permanently barred from crypto and securities industries

New York Attorney General Letitia James has announced a settlement that permanently bars Alex Mashinsky, the co-founder and former CEO of the cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, from working in the cryptocurrency, securities, and commodities industries.

The agreement follows a 2023 civil case alleging that Mashinsky misled hundreds of thousands of investors regarding the safety of funds on the Celsius platform prior to its 2022 collapse. The settlement includes a framework for conditional payments totaling up to $35 million. Specifically, Mashinsky must pay $25 million to New York if he fails to forfeit an additional $10 million in illicit gains to the federal government, and an additional $10 million if he does not complete his full prison sentence.

Mashinsky was previously arrested in July 2023 and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison for federal fraud charges involving commodities and securities. The New York Attorney General’s office noted that the platform's collapse left many investors facing financial ruin after Celsius lost hundreds of millions of dollars in high-risk investments that were allegedly concealed from clients.