Key takeaways:
- The former chief revenue officer of crypto lending company Celsius is said to have admitted guilt over price manipulation and fraud allegations.
- In July, the US Justice Department revealed charges against the two former Celsius executives.
The former chief revenue officer of crypto lending company Celsius, Roni Cohen-Pavon, is said to have admitted guilt to price manipulation and fraud allegations.
Cohen-Pavon admitted to conspiring to commit price manipulation, securities fraud, manipulating the price of securities, and wire fraud, according to a document filed on September 13 in the Southern District of New York United States District Court. He will be out on bond until a sentencing hearing on December 11.
According to a report from Reuters, Cohen-Pavon’s guilty plea was a component of a deal with the prosecution that called for Cohen-Pavon to compensate those harmed by Celsius’s collapse. By artificially raising the price of the Celsius token, it is claimed that the former CEO Alex Mashinsky made over $42 million in profits, while Cohen-Pavon made about $3.6 million.
The US Justice Department revealed charges against the two former Celsius executives in July, although Cohen-Pavon’s whereabouts were largely unknown because he was a resident of Israel. After entering a not-guilty plea to all charges, Mashinsky was released on a $40 million bond.
During the legal process, a federal judge approved the freezing of some of Mashinsky’s assets, including several bank accounts and a property in Austin, Texas. The judge approved an application to unseal a restraining order pertaining to Mashinsky’s assets, according to a filing made on September 5 in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The ruling also covered Mashinsky’s Austin, Texas, property, which he and his wife, Kristine, bought in 2021. When Celsius declared bankruptcy in July 2022, the house had been up for sale for over a year.
The former Celsius CEO’s attorneys submitted a request on September 11 asking for the FTC lawsuit against him to be dismissed on the grounds that the charges do not qualify as a claim.
The bankruptcy case for Celsius Network, which was filed in July 2022, was still active. A bankruptcy court will hear a settlement proposal made in August in October.
