Celsius Network
A crypto lending platform that froze withdrawals and filed for bankruptcy in 2022. Initial bankruptcy filings cited ~$4.7 billion owed to creditors. Founder Alex Mashinsky pleaded guilty to fraud and was sentenced to 12 years.
Also known as: Celsius, Celsius Network, Alex Mashinsky, CEL
Summary
Celsius Network was a cryptocurrency lending platform that halted customer withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy the following month. According to initial bankruptcy filings, more than 100,000 creditors claimed a collective $4.7 billion in losses. [1][2]
Allegations
Prosecutors said founder Alex Mashinsky misrepresented the safety of customer deposits — including a false claim of regulatory approval — and manipulated the price of the platform's CEL token while personally profiting. [1][2] Reporting cited a balance-sheet shortfall described as roughly $1.2 billion at the time of collapse. [1]
Outcome
Mashinsky pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud in December 2024 and was sentenced in May 2025 to 12 years in prison, agreeing to forfeit more than $48 million. [1][2]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (2)
See also
Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
This page was last updated on Jun 15, 2026. View revision history.
