Mashinsky Sentence Bid Rejected by Federal Prosecutors

Federal prosecutors in New York have pushed back against ex-Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky's bid to vacate his 12-year sentence for fraud and market manipulation. In a filing, SDNY Attorney James McDonald and Assistant US Attorney Allison Nichols argued that many of Mashinsky's legal arguments are 'without merit'.

Mashinsky had filed a motion to vacate his conviction and sentence after informing the court in May that he would be representing himself in the case. The former Celsius CEO claimed that cryptocurrency exchange FTX and his former colleague Roni Cohen-Pavon were responsible for problems at Celsius.

Prosecutors, however, dismissed Mashinsky's claims as 'baseless allegations' and argued that he had not submitted a sworn declaration to support them. They also pushed back against claims of ineffective assistance of counsel, stating that Mashinsky was blaming others for the problems at Celsius.