US DOJ freezes Alex Mashinsky’s assets in Celsius case

On August 16, US Department of Justice (DoJ) prosecutors filed a sealed order to freeze Alex Mashinsky’s business accounts and a Texas property co-owned by Kristine Mashinsky, the defendant’s spouse..

As a result, bank accounts and properties owned by Mashinsky have been frozen as part of a criminal investigation involving the former CEO of Celsius.

The freeze affected four of Mashinsky’s accounts at Goldman Sachs, registered under the company name Koala LLC, and three accounts from SoFi Bank, SoFi Securities, and First Republic.

Additionally, another account held under the name AM Ventures at Merrill Lynch was frozen, as stated in a court order signed by Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York.

According to the DOJ’s indictment against Mashinsky on July 13, the former Celsius CEO orchestrated a defraud customers through false claims about the company’s financial health. 

United States attorney Damian Williams alleged that Mashinsky also misled investors about the Celsius platform and conspired with the former chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon to manipulate CEL prices. CEL is the lender’s token.

Authorities arrested Mashinsky in July 2023 and filed charges of securities fraud among other claims. The ex-Celsius boss denied the “baseless” allegations and was released on bail to the tune of $40 million. 

Celsius crashed in July 2022 amid several major crypto collapses supposedly triggered by the implosion of Terra tokens – TerraLuna (now Luna Classic/LUNC) and TerraUSD (UST). 

The company owes 100,000 creditors, with liabilities and assets somewhere between $1 billion and $10 billion.

Mashinsky is scheduled to appear in a New York courtroom on Oct. 3 for a conference with federal prosecutors.

Several agencies, including the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) all have cases against Alex Mashinsky.

Coincidentally, Mashinky’s day in court would happen hours after the trial for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) begins.