A former bigwig at Celsius Network, a crypto company that went belly up, won’t be dodging his legal troubles anytime soon. A federal judge just said no to his attempt to get some of the charges against him dropped.
The Judge Says No
Alex Mashinsky, the ex-CEO of Celsius, tried to convince the judge that two of the charges against him were bogus. He argued that he shouldn’t be facing charges for both manipulating crypto prices and fraud because they’re basically the same thing. But the judge, John Koeltl, wasn’t buying it. He said that just because Mashinsky might get convicted of one charge doesn’t mean he’d be off the hook for the other.
Mashinsky also tried to argue that the charges related to crypto prices were weak. He said that the prosecutors didn’t prove that investors were putting their Bitcoin into a program that promised weekly rewards. But the judge said that’s a question for the trial, not something to decide right now.
What’s Next?
So, Mashinsky is still facing seven charges, including fraud and market manipulation. If he’s found guilty of all of them, he could be looking at a whopping 115 years in prison.
The whole Celsius thing was a big mess. The company went bankrupt in 2022 after freezing customer withdrawals. The SEC accused Mashinsky of lying to investors about how safe their money was.
It’s still early days in the legal battle, but this latest decision means Mashinsky will have to defend himself in court next year.
