Criminal Trial of Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky Set for September 2024

Mashinsky, who headed the crypto lender when it went bankrupt in July 2022, is charged with wire fraud and other crimes.

The trial date for Alex Mashinsky, the former chief executive officer of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network, has been set for September 17, 2024, according to a Bloomberg report. 

During a hearing on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, Mashinsky’s lawyers seemed to hint at their defense strategy, Bloomberg reported. The lawyers said they might look into whether a cryptocurrency could be considered a security since the “law about what is a security is fluid.” 

Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July 2022, and Mashinsky resigned from his position. A year later, Mashinsky was arrested and charged with wire fraud, conspiracy to manipulate the value of the native Celsius (CEL) token and other crimes. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) have all filed suit against the former executive, who has denied all charges. 

Last month, Roni Cohen-Pavon, a former Celsius executive, pleaded guilty to criminal charges and agreed to cooperate with the prosecutors’ continuing investigations

On Monday,  Celsius sought court approval for its final restructuring, which includes a plan to distribute $2 billion worth of Ethereum (ETH) and Bitcoin (BTC) to creditors before the end of this year.