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NY Secures Up to $35M and Crypto Ban From Alex Mashinsky

New York’s settlement bars Alex Mashinsky from crypto and financial industries and sets conditional payments of up to $35 million tied to forfeiture and his prison term.

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NY Secures Up to $35M and Crypto Ban From Alex Mashinsky

New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Oct. 9 that a settlement with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky bars him permanently from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries and could require him to pay New York up to $35 million. The attorney general’s announcement says the payments depend on whether Mashinsky forfeits assets to the federal government and completes his prison sentence.

What could trigger the $35 million payment?

Under the settlement, Mashinsky must pay New York $25 million if he fails to forfeit $10 million in ill-gotten gains to the federal government, in addition to assets already forfeited under his federal plea agreement, James’s office said. He must pay another $10 million to New York if he does not serve his full 12-year prison sentence.

The amount is therefore conditional, rather than a guaranteed $35 million payment. CoinDesk’s report on the settlement also describes the payments as tied to those conditions.

Why did New York sue Mashinsky?

James sued Mashinsky in 2023, alleging he misled hundreds of thousands of investors about Celsius’s safety to encourage cryptocurrency deposits, according to the attorney general’s office. The office said the company lost hundreds of millions of dollars on risky investments and that Mashinsky tried to hide those losses.

Mashinsky is serving a 12-year federal sentence and was ordered to forfeit more than $48 million in the federal case, the attorney general’s announcement said. The New York settlement resolves the state’s civil case and imposes the industry ban.

How much has Celsius returned to creditors?

More than $3.4 billion had been distributed to Celsius creditors through the bankruptcy proceeding as of August 2026, according to James’s office. Celsius collapsed after freezing customer withdrawals in June 2022 and filing for bankruptcy the following month, CoinDesk reported.

Sources and documents