New court documents reveal that authorities have seized assets and a house from Alex Mashinksy, the former chief executive of bankrupt crypto lending company Celsius.
According to an unsealed court order, several bank accounts and a Texas home belonging to Mashinksy have been seized as the Department of Justice (DOJ) continues its criminal case against Celsius.
-->The document reveals that Mashinksy’s accounts from Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch, First Republic, and SoFi have been frozen by the court, as well as a home in Austin, Texas that was purchased in July 2021.
Though the order was originally given on August 16th, it wasn’t unsealed until August 31st as a means of avoiding third-party interference.
Mashinsky was originally arrested and charged with multiple counts of fraud in July alongside Celsius’ chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon after they were accused of perpetrating schemes involving CEL, the native asset of Celsius Network.
The duo is accused of misleading customers into believing that Celsius was operating as a “modern-day bank” where investors can earn interest on deposited digital assets. However, they allegedly made risky, leveraged trades with their funds instead.
Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon are also accused of manipulating the price of CEL, which in turn caused traders to purchase it at an inflated price, a move that financially benefited the defendants.
The charges against the duo include wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and market manipulation. If convicted, the defendants face several decades behind bars.
