Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky may face 115 years in prison! Request to summon key witnesses for self-protection

Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is facing a potential sentence of over 100 years in prison, and his lawyer recently submitted a memorandum to the New York District Court requesting the summoning of six former Celsius employees to testify on his behalf. These witnesses include Celsius's former CFO and earnings manager.

Alex Mashinsky was arrested last year and charged by prosecutors with defrauding clients and misleading the public about Celsius's profitability. According to information provided by lawyers, sentencing guidelines could result in Alex Mashinsky being sentenced to 115 years in prison.

Celsius Company filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and will cease operations in 2023. The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed a lawsuit against Celsius and Alex Mashinsky in July 2023, accusing them of raising billions of dollars through fraudulent and unregistered cryptocurrency sales, repeatedly concealing Celsius's actual financial situation from investors, and manipulating the price of its native token CEL.

Alex Mashinsky's defense lawyer claims that he did not intentionally harm anyone and emphasizes that as the CEO of Celsius, he has always relied on information provided by a professional team.

According to The Block, Alex Mashinsky's lawyer listed former Celsius revenue leader Roni Cohen Pavon as one of the key witnesses. Cohen Pavon reportedly pleaded guilty to the relevant charges last year. Alex Mashinsky's lawyer stated that Cohen Pavon and other employees violated Alex Mashinsky's instructions to sell CEL tokens and instead decided to purchase more CEL tokens without informing him.

Prosecutors claim that Alex Mashinsky and Cohen Pavon jointly manipulated the price of CEL tokens by spending millions of dollars to buy CEL to support and raise the price, and then profited from it. Alex Mashinsky's lawyer stated that Cohen Pavon provided legal advice to Celsius regarding the buying and selling of CEL tokens, making him a key witness in the price manipulation allegations.

In addition, Alex Mashinsky's lawyer also mentioned Celsius's weekly "Ask Mashinsky Anything" live streaming events, which aim to update Celsius's clients on company dynamics. Lawyers stated that the company's legal and risk teams reviewed and edited the content of the event, and many modifications were not communicated to Alex Mashinsky, indicating that if there were any inaccuracies in Alex Mashinsky's statements, it was not intentional deception but rather misleading.

Alex Mashinsky's defense lawyer emphasized that he has always expected the company's professional team to correct any potential errors during the review process, indicating that he acted in good faith and not involved fraudulent behavior. However, the lawyer claims that these modifications and corrections are almost always made without Mr. Alex Mashinsky's knowledge.

(责任编辑：基金专题)