The Former Celsius CEO was ordered by Judge John Koeltl to appear in court on November 13 to address his motion to dismiss charges of market manipulation and fraud.
For the first time in months, Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of crypto platform Celsius, will be present in a New York courtroom to present oral arguments regarding his motion to dismiss charges.
Former Celsius CEO to Return To Court
Judge John Koeltl directed Mashinsky and prosecutors to appear in court on November 13 to “preserve testimony” and address the former Celsius CEO’s motion to dismiss specific charges in the indictment in a filing made on October 23 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York.
In January, Mashinsky’s attorneys submitted petitions to dismiss allegations of commodities fraud and market manipulation.
In July 2023, Mashinsky was apprehended and charged with seven felony counts by the authorities. Prosecutors claimed that Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former celsius CEO and chief revenue officer, “illicitly manipulated” the price of CEL, the platform’s token. They also claimed that Mashinsky misled users regarding the nature of their investments.
According to court records, Mashinsky last appeared in person in February. Judge Koeltl ordered the parties to convene for a pretrial conference on January 16 and the hearing on November 13. The jury trial for the former CEO of Celsius is scheduled to commence on January 28.
Cohen-Pavon has been primarily restricted to traveling between New York and Israel since his arrest. However, it is possible that he attended the Token2049 conference in September after obtaining permission to travel to Singapore.
He initially entered a plea of not guilty to all offenses, but he subsequently changed his plea to guilty. The former Celsius executive is scheduled to be sentenced by Judge Koeltl on December 11.
Preserving the testimony of witnesses
Approximately $42 million in proceeds from sales were purportedly earned by Mashinsky, who resigned as the CEO of Celsius in September 2022.
He entered a plea of not guilty to all offenses, which included securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to manipulate the price of CEL, fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of CEL, market manipulation of the CEL token, and wire fraud related to the manipulation of the CEL token.
The court appearance on November 13 presumably responded to a September filing by the former Celsius CEO, seeking to “preserve the testimony of six material witnesses who reside outside the United States,” including Cohen-Pavon.
Mashinsky’s attorneys claimed that five witnesses they intend to summon “ignored or disregarded [his] explicit instructions to generate revenue by consistently selling CEL tokens into the market and instead purchased excess CEL tokens on the FTX exchange throughout 2021.”
Celsius declared bankruptcy in the United States in July 2022; however, it initiated repayments to its creditors in 2024. Additionally, Mashinsky is currently involved in civil cases with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission of the United States.
