Celsius founder Alex Mashinsk pleads guilty to fraud charges

BlockBeats News: On December 4th, according to Reuters, Alex Mashinsky, founder and former CEO of Celsius Network, a cryptocurrency lending platform, pleaded guilty to two fraud charges on Tuesday. Mashinsky, 59 years old, was charged with seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and market manipulation on July 13, 2023. The federal prosecutor in Manhattan stated that he misled Celsius's clients, induced them to invest, and artificially inflated the value of the company's own cryptocurrency. He pleaded not guilty to these charges that day. Mashinsky stated at Tuesday's hearing that he has pleaded guilty to two of the seven charges initially charged: commodity fraud and fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of CEL (Celsius token). In court, Mashinsky admitted that in a 2021 interview, he provided "false comfort" to Celsius clients, claiming that Celsius had obtained regulatory approval for its "Earn" program, but in reality, it had not been approved. The plan promises to use clients' encrypted assets to generate investment returns.