The CFTC has closed its 2023 enforcement action against Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky with a permanent trading ban. He can’t trade in CFTC-regulated markets, and he can’t register with the regulator. Ever.
This wraps up the CFTC’s first case against a digital asset lending platform. It’s also just the latest in a long line of consequences for Mashinsky, who’s currently serving a 12-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to securities and commodities fraud.
Celsius collapsed in 2022 after pausing withdrawals, leaving customers locked out of billions in deposits. The company filed for bankruptcy shortly after. Customers ultimately lost more than $5 billion. Mashinsky faced criminal charges plus civil suits from the SEC, FTC, and CFTC — with one complaint alleging he stole roughly $42 million from customers directly.
Earlier this year, the FTC settled with Mashinsky too. A $4.7 billion judgment got reduced to $10 million, though that can be lifted if he fails to disclose assets. The FTC also banned him from working in crypto again. Permanently.
Not satisfied with his 12-year sentence, Mashinsky filed a handwritten motion in May to vacate it, claiming ineffective counsel and a conflict of interest tied to his law firm’s work with Sam Bankman-Fried. He claims SBF manipulated the CEL token and caused Celsius’s downfall. BSF, serving his own 25-year sentence, just lost his appeal last week.
Between the criminal conviction, the prison time, the CFTC ban, and the FTC ban, Mashinsky’s involvement in financial markets is effectively over. The $10 million FTC settlement is the loose end — everything else is locked in.
