A court-ordered settlement with the Federal Trade Commission has resulted in a permanent ban on Alex Mashinsky, former CEO and founder of the defunct crypto lending platform Celsius Network, from participating in the cryptocurrency industry. The agreement requires Mashinsky to pay $10 million.
Initially, the FTC secured a judgment worth $4.7 billion against him related to losses from the collapse of Celsius. However, this amount has been largely suspended, with only $10 million now due.
According to the court order, Mashinsky is permanently prohibited from engaging in or aiding activities involving advertising, marketing, promoting, offering, or distributing any product or service that facilitates depositing, exchanging, investing, or withdrawing assets, either directly or through an intermediary.
The suspended portion of the judgment could be reinstated if the FTC demonstrates to a court that Mashinsky failed to disclose significant assets, inaccurately stated asset values, or made false statements in financial disclosures. Additionally, the settlement mandates that he adhere to reporting and record-keeping requirements for up to 18 years.
This lifetime ban is part of an ongoing trend of heightened regulatory oversight on crypto lending platforms, with authorities pursuing both civil and criminal actions against founders of failed companies such as BlockFi and Genesis. The FTC’s enforcement action against Mashinsky continues this regulatory effort.
Celsius declared bankruptcy in 2022 after halting customer withdrawals, leaving users unable to access billions in deposits. Mashinsky is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence, having pleaded guilty in December 2024 to commodities fraud and manipulating the price of Celsius’s native CEL token.
“Celsius promoted a new business model but executed an old-fashioned scam,” stated Samuel Levine, director of the FTC’s Bureau of Consumer Protection, in July 2023.