Alex Mashinsky’s Court Appearance for Fraud Scheduled for Nov 13

Alex Mashinsky, the previous CEO of Celsius, is set to appear in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York on November 13.

He is facing numerous serious allegations, such as securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and market manipulation.

Judge Directs Mashinsky to Present Arguments in Court

As per an October 23 filing, Judge John Koeltl has instructed Mashinsky and the prosecutors involved to present their arguments related to his motion to dismiss specific charges in his indictment and to “preserve testimony.”

Alongside the November 13 hearing, a pretrial conference has been scheduled for January 16, with a jury trial expected to commence on January 28, 2025.

This forthcoming court appearance follows a motion filed by the former CEO’s legal team in September, which sought testimony from six witnesses residing outside the United States, including former Celsius Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon.

Mashinsky’s legal representatives contend that these individuals disregarded his directives to sell Celsius’s native token, CEL, opting instead to buy additional tokens on the FTX exchange throughout 2021.

This will mark the 59-year-old’s first in-person court appearance since February when he attended a Curcio hearing concerning potential conflicts of interest due to his lawyers also representing FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) in another case.

Legal Charges

Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon are accused of manipulating the price of CEL while clandestinely selling their holdings at bloated prices. The former allegedly gained around $42 million from the proceeds of these token sales.

The two purportedly misled customers about the profitability and success of the company as well as the nature of the investments made with customer funds.

In July 2023, the Celsius ex-chief was arrested and charged with seven felony counts. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges and is actively contesting them in court. Additionally, he is facing civil lawsuits initiated by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).

Meanwhile, Cohen-Pavon initially entered a not guilty plea but later changed it to guilty and is set for sentencing on December 11. Following his arrest, he faced travel restrictions that limited his movement between New York and Israel.

Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July 2022. As of August 2024, the company has repaid approximately $2.53 billion owed to creditors. According to a filing, this amount represents about 84% of the $3 billion the defunct cryptocurrency platform must return to over 375,000 claimants.