Facing justice. Since his arrest, only a few hours ago, Alexander Mashinsky is in the news, barely overshadowed by the surprise court decision concerning Ripple and its XRP token. The founder of Celsius finally faces its accusers and will have to account for the thousands of users who lost money during 2022. Manipulations market, fraud multiple, offences on financial laws: all federal agencies is on his back, and the leader’s future grows darker by the day. That said, he won’t find many people to pity him, given the scale of the losses and lies that have marked the history of this Ponzi with crypto sauce. An update on July 14.
SEC, CFTC, FTC and DoJ: Alexander Mashinsky takes on the Justice League
We won’t go into the whole Celsius affair here, as much has already been said and written about this Alexander Mashinsky and his acolytes. Nature illegal of its activities has already been demonstrated on numerous occasions, and the question now is how the American justice system will make it pay for its misdeeds. Indeed, no less than three federal agencies have things to reproach him for and Department of Justice also has its say.
First of all, there’s the FTC. Federal Trade Commissionwhich is the equivalent of our DGCCRF (Direction générale de la Concurrence, de la Consommation et de la Répression des fraudes), wants to hear about a series of lies told at the start of the Celsius adventure. Then there’s the CFTC or Commodity Futures Trading Commission which is in charge of regulating commodities, would like to know more about ICO and about the famous $50 million supposedly raised. In ambush, there’s also the SEC, the Securities and Exchange Commission which is investigating the Earn Interest and other unregistered and potentially fraudulent offers.
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Fallen ex-CEO pleads not guilty and awaits trial
Finally, the prosecutor for the Southern District of New York and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), who issued a act which includes seven counts against the deposed CEO, but also four against his former deputy, Roni Cohen-Pavon. However, the latter, an Israeli resident, remains untraceable to this day. For Alexander MashinskyThings are going to get a lot more complicated in the coming weeks. The judge has set 40 million dollars per bond in this case. And whatever happens, he won’t be able to travel or open new bank accounts in the country.
According to sources close to the case, the defendant’s wife and another anonymous person are willing to pay the sum. Finally, when asked what the Mashinsky’s positionthe lawyers replied that he was pleading not guilty for all the charges brought against him. Better still, he seems confident and self-assured, if we are to believe his defense:
« He vehemently denies the allegations made against him, and looks forward to vigorously defending himself in court against these baseless charges. »
Alone against the rest of the world, the gentleman seems serene and even impatient to do battle with the American authorities. However, Washington’s regulators seem to have enough to send him to prison for a long time to come, and are determined to make him pay for his irresponsible behavior in recent years. It’s now up to the justice in the hope that it will be able to shed light on this whole lamentable story where, once again, thousands of users have been swindled by a few malicious people who have dumped opprobrium on an entire sector that doesn’t deserve it.
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