Former Celsius CEO Tries to Take Testimony Against 115-Year Prison

Key Points:

• Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky seeks testimony from six ex-employees.
• Mashinsky faces allegations of defrauding customers and misleading them about Celsius’s financial health.

According to The Block, former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is seeking testimony from six former employees of the crypto firm as he readies for criminal charges that could give him a sentence of 115 years.

Read more: Celsius Network Customers’ Company Is Facing Liquidation Crisis

Former Celsius CEO Mashinsky Seeks Testimony from Executives for Upcoming Trial

Mashinsky was arrested in 2022 on allegations of defrauding customers and giving them a misrepresentation of Celsius’ financial health. In the recent memorandum, lawyers for the former Celsius CEO requested that the New York District Court allow testimony by key figures, including Celsius’ former Chief Financial Officer and Chief Revenue Officer, some of whom reside outside the U.S.

Mashinsky’s lawyers said he had not willfully hurt anyone. They further claimed that he relied on the information provided to him by the highly experienced team at Celsius. The defence also brings up how serious the potential sentence is the government of the United States has indicated that Mashinsky faces a guideline sentence of up to 115 years in prison.

One of the six proposed witnesses is the former Chief Revenue Officer of Celsius, Roni Cohen-Pavon, who pled guilty to criminal charges last year. In this defence, attorneys for Mashinsky say Cohen-Pavon had disregarded the instructions of the CEO and furthered the manipulation of Celsius’ native token CEL prices.

Celsius Bankruptcy and SEC Lawsuit

The now-bankrupt Celsius, which declared bankruptcy in 2022 and stopped operating earlier this year, had been in the crosshairs of regulators. In 2023, the SEC sued Celsius and Mashinsky for raising billions by selling fraudulent, unregistered cryptos. The SEC also alleged Mashinsky lied about the company’s financial condition to investors and manipulated the price of CEL.

Prosecutors also say Mashinsky misled about the firm’s stability before it went bankrupt in a scenario that seemed similar to other massive crypto firms that went down, such as FTX.

Mashinsky partly blamed Celsius’s collapse on Alameda Research, a hedge fund operated by FTX. Prosecutors are showing that Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of FTX, discussed buying Celsius and ousting Mashinsky ahead of the firm’s implosion.