# Former Celsius exec pleads guilty to criminal charges

By [Farhan](https://paragraph.com/@4545e) · 2023-09-15

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Reuters [reported](https://www.reuters.com/legal/cohen-pavon-ex-executive-crypto-lender-celsius-pleads-guilty-us-criminal-charges-2023-09-14/) the guilty plea was part of an agreement with prosecutors requiring Cohen-Pavon to make restitution to parties affected by the collapse of Celsius. Former CEO [Alex Mashinsky](https://cointelegraph.com/top-people-in-crypto-and-blockchain-2023/su-zhu-and-alex-mashinsky) allegedly made roughly $42 million in profits from sales of the Celsius

[**CEL**](https://cointelegraph.com/celsius-cel-price-index)

[**$0.14**](https://cointelegraph.com/celsius-cel-price-index)

token by artificially inflating the price, while Cohen-Pavon earned roughly $3.6 million.

The U.S. Justice Department [announced charges against the two former Celsius executives](https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-attorney-announces-charges-against-former-celsius-ceo-alex-mashinsky) in July, but Cohen-Pavon’s whereabouts — as a resident of Israel — had been largely unknown at the time. Mashinsky pleaded not guilty to all charges and, at the time of publication, was free on a $40 million bond.

**_Related:_** [**_Celsius Network files ‘adversary complaint’ against EquitiesFirst_**](https://cointelegraph.com/news/celsius-network-bankruptcy-complaint-equitiesfirst-recover-assets)

Amid the legal proceedings, a federal judge allowed U.S. authorities to [freeze some of Mashinsky’s assets](https://cointelegraph.com/news/alex-mashinsky-assets-frozen-court-criminal-case), including certain bank accounts and an Austin, Texas property. On Sept. 11, lawyers for the former Celsius CEO [filed a motion](https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-celsius-ceo-mashinsky-seeks-dismissal-ftc-case) seeking the dismissal of the Federal Trade Commission’s case against him, arguing the allegations do not meet the standards for a claim.

Celsius Network’s bankruptcy case, filed in July 2022, was ongoing at the time of publication. A settlement plan [proposed in August](https://cointelegraph.com/news/celsius-customers-vote-settlement-plan-with-fahrenheit-after-judge-gives-okay) will go before a bankruptcy judge in October.

Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former chief revenue officer of cryptocurrency lending firm Celsius, has reportedly pleaded guilty to charges related to fraud and price manipulation.

According to a Sept. 13 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit price manipulation, securities fraud, manipulation of security prices and wire fraud. He will be free on bail until a Dec. 11 sentencing hearing.

[https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-celsius-exec-pleads-guilty-criminal-charges](https://cointelegraph.com/news/former-celsius-exec-pleads-guilty-criminal-charges)

![](https://storage.googleapis.com/papyrus_images/5c4b496ed433a66257dde6ddd30cab22002b6696aef68d5335ba776f12fd5a2c.png)

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*Originally published on [Farhan](https://paragraph.com/@4545e/former-celsius-exec-pleads-guilty-to-criminal-charges)*