Alex Mashinsky, founder and chief executive officer of Celcius Network Ltd., at the Blockchain Week Summit in Paris on April 13, 2022.Rohan Goswami, CNBC
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was arrested Thursday on federal securities fraud charges, a source told CNBC, as theThe exchange was also charged by the SEC and CFTC with scheming to defraud investors out of billions. The $4.7 billion settlement is one of the largest in the FTC’s history, close to the$5 billion fine levied against Meta in 2019, and highlights what the FTC described as repeated deceptions by Celsius and Mashinsky.
Federal prosecutors also charged Mashinsky with securities, commodities, and wire fraud, as well as various securities manipulation and fraud charges. If convicted, Mashinsky and a co-defendant, Roni Cohen-Pavon, face decades in prison. “Mashinsky misrepresented, among other things, the safety of Celsius’s yield-generating activites, Celsius’s profitability, the long-term sustainability of Celsius’ high rewards rates, and the risks associated with depositing crypto assets with Celsius,” federal prosecutors said in a charging document.
The settlement, announced by the FTC, will not be paid until the company is able to return what remains of customer assets in bankruptcy proceedings.are against Mashinsky and Celsius, and like the federal charges allege that Mashinsky misled investors and fraudulently manipulated the price of Celsius’ exchange token, CEL.