US federal prosecutors have filed statements from hundreds of victims in their case against Alex Mashinsky, the founder and former CEO of the defunct crypto lender Celsius Network.
The recently sworn-in interim US Attorney for Manhattan, Jay Clayton, said in an April 23 letter to a Manhattan federal court that he was sharing “more than 200 victim impact statements” collected by his office.
The statements span 418 pages of Celsius users, some named and some only using their initials, detailing the impact that the collapse of the firm had on their lives and how much money they had lost as a result.
Some of the statements detailed victims who said they entrusted their life savings to Celsius, believing Mashinsky’s assurances that the platform was safe.
Others wrote they were dismayed at the amount returned to them as a result of the company’s bankruptcy proceedings, which many said was less than the amount they put into the platform.
Before it collapsed, Celsius Network allowed users to deposit crypto to earn yield and offered loans with crypto posted as collateral. It blocked withdrawals in mid-2022 amid a massive crypto market crash and filed for bankruptcy in July that year.
The Justice Department hit Mashinsky with seven charges a year later in July 2023, but he took a plea deal and copped to a count each of commodities and securities fraud in December, which carry a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison if served consecutively.
Some seek leniency for Mashinsky
A large number of the statements reviewed by Cointelegraph called for Mashinsky to be imprisoned under the maximum allowable sentence, but at least two called for the court to go easy on the admitted fraudster.
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One statement, written by a person identifying themselves as “Mike,” said further punishing Mashinsky would be “unreasonably excessive” as he claimed, without evidence, that the Celsius founder “was the target of a coordinated attack” by Sam Bankman-Fried, a convicted fraudster and former CEO of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX.
Another statement written by Artur Abreu said that Mashinsky should be given leniency as he’s shown remorse, and macroeconomic factors at the time majorly contributed to Celsius’ collapse.
Mashinsky, whose sentencing is set for May 8, argued in an April 17 sentencing brief that he should not be sentenced to more than a year and one day in prison, or 366 days, as he had “genuinely good intentions, and a previously spotless track record.”
The government’s sentencing brief is due on April 24.
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