Users of Alex Mashinsky, the leader of Celestius Network, want him to serve a life sentence.

Prior to Mashinsky’s May 8 punishment, U.S. District Judge John G. Koeltl received more than 200 victim impact claims, many of which were reviewed by . The overwhelming majority of the respondents want the mastermind responsible for the failed crypto lender to receive the most severe punishment possible.

Brandon Lawrence, an investor, claimed he lost 1.5 Bitcoin ( roughly$ 111,000 today ) because “he devastated numerous lives, and there are those who have taken their own lives as a result.” He should be imprisoned for life and faced with repercussions equivalent to Bernie Madoff’s.

The buyer pleas come nearly five weeks after Mashinsky admitted to misleading customers about Celsius’s financial wellness and using their money to influence the price of CEL, the bank’s local sign, in court.

One of the many who gave Celsius his pocketbook described the personal and financial chaos Mashinsky left behind.

The buyer, who is suffering from a broken heart, has urged the court to send a clear message, stating that the situation is” crucial to restore trust in our righteousness program” and that it will demonstrate that any acts of rules and faith will be treated with the same degree of severity.

One of the most serious” crypto spring” collapses of 2022 is Mashinsky’s fall, which he was once one of the most well-known figures in crypto financing.

Following the collapse of the hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, crypto companies like Voyager Digital filed for bankruptcy a few weeks after. BlockFi had a hard time surviving the wind, and it eventually fell in front of FTX in November.

In June 2022, Celsius frozen payments, capturing$ 4.7 billion in consumer goods, and filed for bankruptcy.

In July 2023, the Celsius leader was charged with seven criminal offenses, including market manipulation and wire fraud.

Yet as Mashinsky physically dumped his assets onto the market, Celsius used user funds to artificially inflate CEL’s price, according to the prosecution.

According to a declaration from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York, internal communications revealed that professionals, including then-Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon, knew CEL’s rate was deliberately propped up.

Cohen-Pavon told Mashinsky in a message that” the price was fake.” No single purchases anything but for us.

Mashinsky has asked the court for mercy despite the weight of the allegations, which carry a maximum 30-year word.

The New York court actually approved Mashinsky’s attorneys ‘ plea to postpone punishment from April 8 to May 8 on Wednesday.

The security claimed in their February action that it needed more time to make a statement that “accurately presents Mr. Mashinsky’s views on his offense conduct, along with the numerous other factors that the Court will take into account.”

At the same time, he secretly attempted to recruit two well-known security counsel, Marc Mukasey and Torrey Young, who are best known for defending FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried and the Trump Organization.

edited by Stacy Elliott.

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