Celsius Founder Mashinsky Set for May 8 Sentencing Amid CEL Token Fraud Charges

Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius, is scheduled to be sentenced on May 8, 2025 after pleading guilty to two criminal charges related to commodities fraud and the price manipulation of the CEL token. Mashinsky, who admitted to one count of fraud and one count of price manipulation, had his sentencing delayed from the original April date to allow his legal team extra time to prepare a comprehensive submission. The charges, which carry up to 20 years in prison per count, add to the mounting legal pressures for high-profile crypto executives following the collapse of Celsius in 2022, a collapse exacerbated by market turmoil after the fall of Terra. At its height, Celsius held $13 billion in customer deposits before filing for bankruptcy and later repurposing some assets to launch a Bitcoin mining company, Ionic Digital. This development comes on the heels of other significant legal actions in the crypto industry, including the sentencing of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and the pending trial of Terraform Labs co-founder Do Kwon.