Mashinsky Alexander

Mashinsky Alexander

Biography

2023: Arrest in the US

On July 13, 2023, it became known that the co-founder of the Celsius criticoplatform, Alexander Mashinsky, was arrested in the United States. He faces charges of fraud in the cryptocurrency market.

Mashinsky was born in 1965 in the Soviet Union. He has worked in a wide variety of industries, often focusing on the most sought-after technology. 57-year-old Mashinsky lived in Ukraine until the age of five, and then moved with his parents to Israel, after which he moved to the United States.

In 2017, Mashinsky founded the Celsius Network, a platform lending to digital assets such as bitcoin. Law enforcement claims that from 2018 to June 2022, he "organized a scheme to deceive customers." It is said that Mashinsky personally received about $42 million from the sale of his Cel tokens.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) sued Mashinsky, alleging that he and his firm raised billions of dollars through the sale of unregistered cryptocurrency securities and misled investors about the private company's financial condition. The SEC said Celsius engaged in "risky trading practices" and issued unsecured loans despite assuring investors otherwise. The company also falsely claimed to have raised approximately $50 million from its initial token sale.

Celsius was one of several notable crypto firms that collapsed in 2022. The company gained popularity by paying high interest rates on deposits of digital assets. Mashinsky was arrested and charged with wire fraud and other crimes. He does not admit his guilt. The court decided to release Mashinsky on bail in the amount of $40 million.^[1]

Notes