New York AG Secures Up to $35M and Industry Ban From Ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky

New York Attorney General Letitia James has permanently barred former Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky from the securities, commodities and crypto industries, and secured up to $35 million from him, her office announced Friday.

The payments are conditional, with Mashinsky required to pay New York $25 million if he fails to forfeit a further $10 million in ill-gotten gains to the federal government under his plea agreement, and $10 million if he does not serve his full prison sentence.

Mashinsky has asked a court to vacate his 12-year sentence.

James sued Mashinsky in 2023, accusing him of defrauding hundreds of thousands of investors, including more than 26,000 in New York, by misleading them about the safety of the crypto lending platform, which collapsed in 2022.

Her office's investigation found that Mashinsky repeatedly claimed Celsius was safer than a bank, while customers' assets were used in high-risk strategies whose losses he concealed.

One New York resident mortgaged two properties to invest with Celsius, and a disabled veteran lost $36,000 that had taken him nearly a decade to save, according to the attorney general's office.

"Alex Mashinsky promised New Yorkers that his company was a secure place to invest their hard-earned savings, only to leave them penniless when his risky investments collapsed," James said.

Mashinsky's other penalties

Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in federal prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to fraud charges. Prosecutors had sought 20 years. He was also ordered to forfeit more than $48 million.

He was arrested in July 2023 and released on $40 million bail ahead of trial.

The CFTC has permanently banned Mashinsky from trading, and he agreed to a $10 million settlement with the FTC that bars him from the crypto industry.