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.
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