Celsius Founder Alexander Mashinsky Banned From Trading

A federal court entered a Commodity Futures Trading Commission consent order on June 18 that permanently bars Alexander Mashinsky, founder and former CEO of Celsius Network, from trading and from registration.

The order also enjoins him from future violations of certain anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act.

The CFTC filed its complaint on July 13, 2023, alleging Celsius accepted about $20 billion in customer funds through its digital-asset finance platform while misrepresenting the safety, profitability and regulatory status of its services and paying weekly interest “rewards” to customers.

Regulators allege Celsius pooled customer assets and used them to generate revenue while telling users deposits were safe and earning returns similar to a bank. To meet promised yields, the CFTC’s complaint says the company relied on risky strategies, including millions in uncollateralized loans and unregulated decentralized finance agreements.

The CFTC’s consent order includes the line: “The consent order permanently enjoins Mashinsky from further violations of certain anti-fraud provisions in the CEA and CFTC regulations and imposes permanent trading and registration bans against him.”

Other federal actions followed. The Securities and Exchange Commission charged Celsius and Mashinsky in July 2023 with fraud, unregistered securities offerings, false or misleading investor statements and manipulation of the CEL token market. The Federal Trade Commission brought a consumer protection case that resulted in a settlement banning the company from handling consumer assets. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York filed a parallel criminal case on July 11, 2023.

Mashinsky pleaded guilty on Dec. 3, 2024 to one count of commodities fraud and one count of securities fraud. He was sentenced on May 8, 2025 to 12 years in prison, ordered to pay a $50,000 fine and to forfeit $48,393,446, court records show.

Prosecutors said Celsius held about $25 billion in assets at its peak in fall 2021. The platform halted withdrawals on June 12, 2022. Before that halt, Mashinsky withdrew about $8 million of his non-CEL assets, while customers were left with about $4.7 billion in inaccessible assets, prosecutors wrote.

With the court’s entry of the consent order on June 18, the CFTC’s civil enforcement action against Mashinsky concludes.