New York Attorney General Secures Up to $35 Million and Lifetime Industry Ban From Ex-Celsius CEO Mashinsky

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Friday that she has reached a settlement with former Celsius chief executive Alex Mashinsky, who is already serving a 12-year federal prison term after pleading guilty to securities and commodities fraud. The deal bars him for life from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries.

James filed the civil case in 2023, accusing him of misleading hundreds of thousands of investors, including more than 26,000 New Yorkers, about how safe their Celsius deposits were. She said he sold Celsius as safer than a bank while the company put customer assets into risky strategies and hid its losses. The CFTC also permanently barred him from commodities activity in June.

Settlement Payments and Conditions

Mashinsky must pay New York $25 million unless he forfeits $10 million in ill-gotten gains to the federal government. A further $10 million becomes due if he fails to serve his full prison sentence, which brings the maximum to $35 million.

Celsius Bankruptcy and Creditor Recoveries

Celsius froze customer withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy a month later. As of August, creditors and customers had received more than $3.4 billion through the bankruptcy process, above the roughly $3 billion planned when the company emerged in 2024. James said she would not allow scammers to use crypto to prey on New Yorkers.