NY AG James Secures Up to $35M and Lifetime Industry Ban From Celsius Founder Mashinsky

New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Friday that she had secured up to $35 million from former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky and permanently barred him from the securities, commodities and cryptocurrency industries, according to CoinDesk. Under the settlement, Mashinsky must pay the state $25 million if he does not forfeit $10 million in ill-gotten gains to the federal government, and a further $10 million if he fails to serve his full prison sentence, according to the attorney general’s office. Mashinsky is serving a 12-year federal prison sentence after pleading guilty to securities and commodities fraud. James sued him in 2023, saying he misled hundreds of thousands of investors, including more than 26,000 New Yorkers, about the safety of their Celsius deposits.

What the primary record shows (added 2026-10-15). The “$10 million in ill-gotten gains” in the AG’s and CoinDesk’s wording is not new money. The SDNY consent preliminary order of forfeiture (1:23-cr-00347-JGK, Doc. 109, signed Dec 3, 2024 and filed Dec 4, 2024) has Mashinsky pay “$10,000,000 … towards the satisfaction of his forfeiture money judgment obligation,” which is the existing $48,393,446 money judgment, with a payment deadline of December 31, 2025. Paragraph 12 says the government accepts the payment “in full satisfaction of the Money Judgment” once a final order of forfeiture is entered on the specific properties. The New York stipulation (signed and e-filed Oct 8, 2026; announced Oct 9) makes the $25 million due only if that payment is not made. Its $10 million judgment is deemed satisfied by serving the sentence, and becomes payable if the sentence is reduced or overturned. Whether the federal payment was made, and whether the New York court has so-ordered the stipulation, is not established. See ny-ag-mashinsky-consent-judgment-oct-2026-payment-structure-cftc-and-forfeiture-primary-read.

The earlier collapse of the lender is recorded in 2022-07-13–celsius-network-bankruptcy-regulatory-void.