The Mashinsky permanent ban is official: Alex Mashinsky, co-founder of Celsius Network, has agreed to a lifetime exit from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries under a settlement with New York Attorney General Letitia James — a deal worth up to $35 million, depending on how well the former crypto star behaves while serving his federal sentence.
The settlement, filed October 8 and announced October 9, resolves the NY AG’s 2023 fraud lawsuit, which alleged Mashinsky misled hundreds of thousands of investors — including more than 26,000 New Yorkers — about the safety of Celsius deposits before the platform froze withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy a month later.
What the Mashinsky permanent ban actually covers
The order bars Mashinsky permanently from participating in the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries. It stacks on top of earlier actions: the CFTC issued its own permanent commodities trading and registration ban in June 2026, and a separate FTC settlement has Mashinsky owing $10 million alongside co-founders Daniel Leon and Shlomi Goldstein.
The $35 million is conditional — twice
The headline number is a ceiling, not a cheque. Some $25 million would flow to New York only if Mashinsky fails to forfeit $10 million in ill-gotten gains to the federal government under his criminal forfeiture order, with qualifying federal payments made after May 20, 2025 counting toward that amount. A separate $10 million judgment triggers if he does not serve his full federal prison term.
Mashinsky is currently serving a 12-year sentence handed down May 8, 2025, after pleading guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud — which makes the structure a rare thing in enforcement: a fine that shrinks with good behavior, twice over. Meanwhile, the NY AG’s office says Celsius customers and creditors have received more than $3.4 billion through bankruptcy proceedings as of August 2026.
Sourced from Cointelegraph’s report on the Mashinsky settlement.
