Alex Mashinsky, the co-founder and former CEO of cryptocurrency lender Celsius Network, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud in a Manhattan federal court on Tuesday, according to a Bloomberg article. 

The charges stem from allegations that Mashinsky orchestrated schemes to artificially inflate the price of Celsius' CEL token, generating $42 million in personal profits while misleading investors.

By pleading guilty to charges of commodities fraud and a scheme to manipulate the CEL token price, Mashinsky avoided a jury trial previously scheduled for January. The most serious charge carries a potential sentence of up to 20 years in prison.

“I knew what I did was wrong, and I want to do whatever I can to make it right,” Mashinsky told US District Judge John Koeltl during the hearing. Sentencing is scheduled for April 8, 2025. Under the plea agreement, Mashinsky cannot appeal any sentence of 30 years or less.

Mashinsky admitted to misleading statements made in December 2021 about Celsius’ regulatory status and its earn program. He falsely claimed that the company had received regulatory approval, a statement he said gave customers “false comfort” and persuaded them to exchange Bitcoin for CEL tokens.

Prosecutors allege that Mashinsky led a yearslong effort to manipulate CEL's price, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in customer deposits to artificially prop up its value. The company's internal communications revealed the extent of the manipulation. In one instance, former Celsius executive Roni Cohen-Pavon allegedly messaged Mashinsky, warning that the token’s value was “fake” and reliant on excessive spending by Celsius.

Cohen-Pavon, who pleaded guilty last year and is cooperating with prosecutors, oversaw many of these CEL purchases. Mashinsky’s schemes ultimately left Celsius unable to meet customer withdrawal demands, leading to the platform’s collapse in 2022, with over $1 billion in outstanding debt.

Mashinsky was charged in July 2023 with two criminal schemes: misleading customers about Celsius’ operations and engaging in manipulative trades. The case, US v Mashinsky, 23-cr-00347, is being heard in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.