Prosecutors are looking for a 20-year imprisonment for founder of the failed Crypto platform Celsius Network

New York (AP)-Founder and former CEO of the failed Cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius Network should face 20 years behind bars for lying and self-trade that costs customers billions of dollars to losses, prosecutors told a judge on Tuesday. Alexander Mashinsky, 59, said thousands of clients said their money was safe and safe, which led investors to collapse more than $ 20 billion in Celsius by 2021, they wrote in a submission before a scheduled sentencing on May 8 in the Federal Court in Manhattan. “They were not,” prosecutors said, noting that Celsius declared bankruptcy in 2022 and admitted that it could not return to clients who invested they invested. Prosecutors said Mashinsky manufactured Celsius ‘profitability and placed clients’ funds at the grace of oncollateral loans and unknown market bets. Meanwhile, the company advertised itself as a contemporary bank where people could safely deposit crypto assets and earn interest. “The behavior of Mashinsky made him rich,” they wrote. In their own submission to the judge, defense lawyers said their client should not face more than a year and a day imprisonment after pleading guilty to the federal charges of fraud in December. In doing so, he acknowledged that he deceived customers between 2018 and 2022. The defense blamed Celsius’s collapse in May and June of 2022 the collapse of Cryptocurrency markets. “His actions were never predator, exploitative or venal. He never acted with the intent. cruelty or greed, “the advocates said. They also noted that Mashinsky had a difficult early life in a small Ukrainian city in the former Soviet Union, which his family when he was 7, to Israel, where Mashinsky served in the Israeli army for three years. The stealing of people’s hard -earned money to satisfy his own hedonistic pleasure. legal efforts that have transferred to crime due to unexpected problems. ‘ At his plea explanation, Mashinsky admitted to illegally manipulating the price of Celsius’ own crypto sign while in secretly selling his own signs at inflated prices to drop about $ 48 million. He said he was selling crypto signs in 2019, although he told the public that he was not, because they knew customers would also derive false comfort. In an accusation, it is alleged that Mashinsky has promoted Celsius through media interviews, his social media accounts and Celsius ‘website, along with a weekly “Ask Mashinsky Anything” session placed on Celsius’ website and a YouTube channel. First Published: 30 Apr 2025, 04:18 AM Ist