Israeli-American CEO found guilty of huge crypto fraud: This is his punishment

The CEO and founder of the Israeli crypto company Celsius Network, Alex Mashinsky, has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for one of the largest crypto scams in history, an Israeli-American citizen.

The New York court ruled that Mashinsky, who promised investors returns of up to 17%, defrauded thousands of customers and raked in about $48 million, while the company collapsed with a deficit of $1.19 billion.

According to the indictment, the defendant Mashinsky inflated the value of Celsius' internal currency, and presented investors with false representations about the safety of investments. The actions he took contributed to the company's collapse in the summer of 2022, against the background of the collapse of the crypto market.

Federal prosecutors demanded at least 20 years in prison, but the judge settled for 12 years, along with three years of supervised release and forfeiture of tens of millions of dollars.

Although the convicted defendant expressed remorse for his actions, the prosecution claimed that he was a "major crook" who ruined the lives of his victims. Victim statements submitted to the court reveal the enormous scale of the abuse.

In July 2022, after the collapse of the crypto market, the company froze the possibility of withdrawing funds and filed for bankruptcy. A year later, Mashinsky was arrested and charged with seven criminal counts and eventually pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud: securities fraud and commodity fraud. Since then, clients have managed to receive some of their money as part of a rehabilitation arrangement in court.