NY AG Secures $35,000,000 and Lifetime Crypto Ban From Ex-Celsius CEO for Investor Fraud
Key Summary
New York officials have secured $35 million in payments and a lifetime ban from a former crypto lending platform executive for defrauding investors. Alex Mashinsky misled hundreds of thousands of investors, including 26,000 in New York, about platform safety, resulting in massive losses. The executive is serving a 12-year prison sentence and has investors and creditors receiving over $3.4 billion through Celsius bankruptcy proceedings.
NY AG Secures $35M and Lifetime Crypto Ban from Ex-Celsius CEO for Investor Fraud
Case Details
New York officials are securing millions in payments and a lifetime ban from a former crypto lending platform executive for defrauding investors. The New York Attorney General says Alex Mashinsky misled hundreds of thousands of investors, including more than 26,000 in New York, about platform safety while using their deposits in high-risk strategies that caused massive losses.
Investor Deception
Mashinsky repeatedly claimed that Celsius made safe, low-risk investments and only lent assets to credible and reputable entities. However, investors’ assets were routinely used in high-risk strategies, many of which resulted in losses that Mashinsky concealed.
Accountability and Settlement
The executive is serving a 12-year federal prison sentence from a parallel criminal case where more than $48 million was forfeited to the federal government. Mashinsky’s investors and creditors have received more than $3.4 billion through Celsius bankruptcy proceedings as of August 2026. The settlement requires up to $35 million in payments to New York with conditions tied to federal forfeiture and sentence compliance. Celsius founders and executives separately paid $16.5 million to the Federal Trade Commission.