The founder of Celsius has been sentenced to 12 years in prison for encryption fraud, with $48 million and multiple properties confiscated.

On May 9, according to Coindesk, Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison for encryption fraud, with two counts resulting in sentences of 120 months and 144 months (to be served concurrently for 144 months). Alex Mashinsky agreed to forfeit $48 million and multiple properties. Before the collapse of Celsius in 2022, Alex Mashinsky repeatedly lied to investors about the safety of customer deposits. Prosecutors pointed out that he falsely claimed the platform had regulatory approval, insisted that he never distributed unsecured loans (which was actually the opposite), and profited personally by manipulating the price of CEL Token—his illegal profits related to CEL alone exceeded $48 million. Alex Mashinsky’s negligence and self-serving behavior directly led to Celsius’s bankruptcy, leaving a massive hole of $1.2 billion on the company’s books (approximately $7 billion at current prices).