The co-founders of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network have agreed to pay a combined $6.5 million to settle fraud charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Shlomi Daniel Leon, former chief strategy officer, will pay $4.1 million, while Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein, ex-CTO, will pay $2.4 million. Both are permanently banned from marketing or selling any product or service that can be used to deposit or withdraw assets.
The settlements close the FTC’s case against all three Celsius co-founders. Earlier, former CEO Alex Mashinsky settled for $10 million in April 2026, bringing the total payments from the three executives to $16.5 million. Each settlement includes a suspended $4.72 billion judgment tied to consumer harm—only payable if they violate the terms.
The FTC had sued Celsius and its leaders in July 2023, alleging the company falsely claimed customer deposits were safer than banks, held a $750 million insurance policy, and did not make unsecured loans. In reality, by April 2022, Celsius had made $1.2 billion in unsecured loans and lacked the advertised coverage. The executives allegedly continued reassuring customers even as the platform spiraled toward bankruptcy, suspending withdrawals on June 12, 2022, and filing Chapter 11 a month later. At its peak, Celsius managed $25 billion in assets; when it froze accounts, customers had $4.7 billion trapped.
Mashinsky’s legal troubles extended beyond the FTC: he was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud, and was ordered to forfeit over $48 million. Meanwhile, Celsius’s bankruptcy estate has been distributing funds to creditors, with a third payout of $220.6 million in August 2025 pushing total recoveries to nearly 65% of eligible claims. The latest FTC orders bring closure to the regulator’s civil fraud action against the platform’s founding trio.
