FTC Secures $16.5M Settlements from Celsius Network Co-Founders
The FTC announced $16.5 million settlements with Celsius Network co-founders for deceptive practices.
Why it matters: This highlights intensified regulatory scrutiny on cryptocurrency companies, increasing compliance risks for digital asset platforms and their executives.
- The FTC’s settlement involves Alexander Mashinsky, Shlomi Daniel Leon, and Hanoch Goldstein, who agreed to pay $16.5 million total.
- Mashinsky and Leon face bans on marketing or selling cryptocurrency-related products; Goldstein faces a similar ban focused on retail crypto products.
- Mashinsky pleaded guilty in 2024 to commodities and securities fraud and was sentenced to 12 years in prison in 2025.
- These settlements come amid Celsius’ bankruptcy and a separate $299.5 million recovery from Tether in 2025.
On July 20, 2026, the Federal Trade Commission announced settlement agreements with Alexander Mashinsky, Shlomi Daniel Leon, and Hanoch \u201CNuke\u201D Goldstein, co-founders of Celsius Network Inc., resolving charges that the executives deceived users by falsely promising deposits on their crypto platform would always be safe and available. Together, they agreed to pay $16.5 million to address these allegations, detailed on the FTC’s site.
The FTC also imposed restrictions preventing Mashinsky and Leon from marketing or selling products or services enabling crypto deposits, exchanges, investments, or withdrawals. Goldstein agreed to a ban on marketing retail products or services that could be used for cryptocurrency transactions.
These settlements follow Mashinsky’s December 2024 guilty plea to commodities and securities fraud connected to fraudulent schemes at Celsius, including misleading investors about the company’s stability and manipulating the price of the CEL token. Mashinsky was subsequently sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025, as per the U.S. Department of Justice announcements here and here.
The regulatory action coincides with the broader resolution of Celsius’ financial collapse. The company emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2024, distributing over $3 billion in assets to creditors. Additionally, Celsius secured a $299.5 million settlement from Tether in late 2025, resolving a long-running dispute over Bitcoin collateral, as reported by The Block.
Jay Clayton, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, summarized the case: "Alexander Mashinsky targeted retail investors with promises that he would keep their 'digital assets' safer than a bank, when in fact he used those assets to place risky bets and to line his own pockets."
By the numbers:
- $16.5 million — total settlement amount by Celsius co-founders with the FTC.
- 12 years — prison sentence for Alexander Mashinsky for fraud-related crimes.
- $299.5 million — settlement secured by Celsius from Tether in bankruptcy dispute.
- Over $3 billion — distributed to creditors when Celsius emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.