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Alex Mashinsky, Founder and Former CEO of Celsius, Pleads Guilty to Fraud

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Alex Mashinsky, the founder and one-time CEO of bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud on Tuesday afternoon, according to reports from Reuters and Inner City Press.

He has reportedly agreed to a maximum sentencing guideline of 360 months, or 30 years, in prison.

Last July, Mashinsky was arrested in New York and charged with seven criminal counts tied to the operation of and the 2022 collapse of his company, including securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the price of Celsius’ native token, CEL.

“I said that Celsius had approval from regulators. It was false. I falsely said I was not selling my CEL tokens, I accept full responsibility for my actions,” Inner City Press quoted Mashinsky as saying in court. “I did not know which law it was violating, but I knew it was wrong…and illegal.”

Mashinsky originally pleaded not guilty and attempted to have two of the charges — the commodities manipulation charge and a market manipulation charge — dismissed. However, the judge overseeing Mashinsky’s case, U.S. District Court Judge John G. Koeltl of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) ruled that his attorney’s arguments against the charges were “without merit” meaning that, if he went to trial, Mashinsky would have to face the full seven-count indictment.

Celsius halted withdrawals in June 2022, a month after the collapse of Do Kwon’s Terra/LUNA, citing “extreme market conditions.” The following month, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York, one of the first in a slew of bankruptcies of similarly-situated crypto platforms including Voyager Digital, BlockFi, Genesis and FTX.

Read More: The Fall of Celsius Network: A Timeline of The Crypto Lender’s Descent into Insolvency

Though the collapse of Terra/LUNA and crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital put a squeeze on many crypto companies in the latter half of 2022, Celsius had itself — and its management — to blame for its financial woes.

For years before Celsius’ collapse, Mashinsky was telling customers on his regular livestreams not to “listen to the FUD-ers” about the company’s lending practices, assuring them that “Celsius does not do non-collateralized loans…Celsius will not do that because that would be taking too much risk on your behalf.” However, the company was, in fact, making uncollateralized loans. When it filed for bankruptcy, lawyers for the crypto lending platform admitted Celsius had a $1.2 billion hole in its balance sheet.

Flashback to 2020: What Crypto Lender Celsius Isn’t Telling Its Depositors

Mashinsky is set to be sentenced in Manhattan on April 8, 2025 at 11:30 a.m. ET.

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Judge Overturns Convictions in Mango Markets Exploiter’s Crypto Fraud Case

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A U.S. judge has overturned the fraud and market manipulation convictions of Avraham Eisenberg, the crypto trader accused of draining $110 million from the now-defunct decentralized finance protocol Mango Markets.

On Friday, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that prosecutors failed to prove Eisenberg made false representations to the platform.

He also moved to acquit Eisenberg of wire fraud charges. The investor manipulated the price of Mango’s native token MNGO with massive trades by more than 1,000% in 20 minutes before getting the protocol to allow him to borrow and withdraw $110 million in various cryptocurrencies, backed by the inflated collateral.

Eisenberg’s defense argued that the platform, which operated through smart contracts, allowed anyone to transact freely and that he simply exploited a vulnerability. The judge agreed, stating that Mango’s permissionless structure meant that there “was insufficient evidence of falsity” from prosecutors regarding Eisenberg’s representation to Mango Markets.

Eisenberg was arrested in December 2022, and while this case collapsed, he is still currently serving a four-year sentence handed out after he pleaded guilty to the possession of child sexual abuse material.

“From the beginning, we said this case was fatally flawed,” his attorney Brian Klein of Waymaker LLP said. “We are very pleased for Avi that the judge granted our motion and dismissed the case.”

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Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller Unveils Limited Edition Solana Watch

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If you’ve ever wanted to have your Solana wallet on your wrist while flexing your wealth, Swiss watchmaker Franck Muller is making that a reality.

The watch market is stepping into the Web3 ecosystem with a Solana-inspired, limited-edition series of watches that contain an embedded unique QR code to directly link to the user’s Solana address.

The company’s Solana-inspired watch collection is limited to 1,111 units that will set buyers back 20,000 Swiss francs (around $24,300).

While the watches feature a unique design that could appeal to Solana ecosystem participants, their launch comes at a time when, unfortunately, flaunting crypto-related wealth is becoming risky.

The cryptocurrency industry has seen dozens of physical attacks just this year, with a notable case seeing the daughter and grandson of Pierre Noizat, CEO of crypto platform Paymium, being targeted in a daytime attempted kidnapping. The attack was filmed and shared on social media.

While that kidnapping attempt failed, an earlier one in the same city saw the father of a crypto millionaire get abducted. Police managed to rescue the man, but not before his finger was severed.

Earlier this year, the co-founder of hardware wallet maker Ledger, David Balland, along with his wife, was abducted from his home and saw similar treatment. The couple was later rescued by authorities, and a ransom that had been paid out was seized.

There have been many other similar attacks in recent months.

Franck Muller is pitching the collection as a «phygital» (physical-digital) symbol of identity and ownership in the crypto age. While the watch is certainly a piece of crypto mythos, it may be a collectible that investors may not want to show off.

Read more: ‘Major Wake-Up Call’: How $400M Coinbase Breach Exposes Crypto’s Dark Side

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A Small Food Firm Buys 21 bitcoin, Jumping on BTC Treasury Trend, Shares Fall Anyways

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DDC Enterprise (DDC), an Asian food company, has announced the acquisition of 21 BTC as part of a long-term plan to incorporate the cryptocurrency into its corporate treasury.

The company, led by founder and CEO Norma Chu, exchanged 254,333 class A ordinary shares for BTC, in a transaction valued at roughly $2.28 million, according to a press release.

The move positions DDC among a growing cohort of public companies using BTC as a treasury asset. Two more purchases totaling 79 BTC are expected in the coming days, bringing the company’s initial holdings to 100 BTC.

In a shareholder letter issued last week, Chu outlined plans to accumulate up to 500 BTC within six months and aim for 5,000 BTC in three years.

While companies adopting bitcoin as a strategic treasury asset often see major price rises, DDC saw the opposite. The company’s shares dropped more than 12% on Friday’s trading session, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.6% and the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell 1%.

DigiAsia (FAAS), for example, saw its share prices surge more than 90% in a single trading session after announcing a $100 million BTC treasury plan earlier this month.

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