Celsius Exec Pleads Guilty, Agrees to Cooperate in Case Against CEO

Roni Cohen-Pavon, 36, a former government at Alex Mashinsky’s bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Community, has pleaded responsible to 4 felony fees, per court docket paperwork shared by Internal Metropolis Press.

Cohen-Pavon faces a mixed most time period of imprisonment of 65 years over fees referring to market manipulation of a safety within the CEL token and wire fraud.

Alongside along with his jail sentence, Cohen-Pavon will likely be required to make restitution in an quantity to be specified by the court docket.

His sentencing date is ready for December 11, 2024 earlier than the U.S. District Choose John Koeltl in Manhattan. He’ll proceed to be on bail till that point.

Cohen-Pavon reaches settlement with U.S. Legal professional Workplace

In response to court docket paperwork shared by Reuters, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace for the Southern District of New York has accepted Cohen-Pavon’s responsible plea.

The U.S. Legal professional additionally reached an settlement with Cohen-Pavon for his cooperation within the case towards Mashinsky, with an understanding that “no testimony or different info given by the defendant will likely be used towards him in any felony tax prosecution.” Prosecutors might advocate that Choose Koeltl take Cohen-Pavon’s help under consideration throughout his sentencing.

Cohen-Pavon served because the chief income officer at Celsius and reportedly acquired about $3.6 million in funds from the agency.

He was arrested on July 13 because the co-accused within the case between the U.S. SEC, CFTC and FTC towards Alex Mahinsky on fees associated to market manipulation, securities fraud and wire fraud.

On September 11, Mashinsky submitted a court docket submitting arguing to dismiss the Federal Commerce Fee’s case towards him fully.

His attorneys argued that the allegations do not show that he knowingly made false statements to fraudulently receive buyer info from a monetary establishment.