Former Celsius Network CEO Alex Mashinsky will pay New York up to $35 million and is permanently barred from the securities, commodities, and crypto industries under an agreement announced October 9, 2026 by Attorney General Letitia James.

The settlement, filed in state court, resolves the state's 2023 civil suit against Mashinsky over the 2022 collapse of the Celsius lending platform. It layers atop a federal fraud conviction that put Mashinsky inside a 12-year prison term in May 2025.

How the payments break down

The $35 million is contingent. Under the deal, Mashinsky owes New York $25 million if he does not forfeit a separate $10 million in ill-gotten gains to the federal government under his plea agreement. He owes an additional $10 million if he fails to serve his full prison sentence.

Mashinsky has asked a federal court to vacate that sentence, leaving both triggers unresolved.

What the AG's investigation found

James sued Mashinsky in 2023, accusing him of defrauding hundreds of thousands of investors — more than 26,000 of them in New York — by misrepresenting the safety of the crypto lending platform. Her office said Mashinsky repeatedly told customers Celsius was safer than a bank, while deploying their assets in high-risk strategies whose losses he concealed.

"Alex Mashinsky promised New Yorkers that his company was a secure place to invest their hard-earned savings, only to leave them penniless when his risky investments collapsed," James said.

The complaint details individual harm: one New York resident mortgaged two properties to invest with Celsius, and a disabled veteran lost $36,000 he had spent almost a decade saving, according to the attorney general's office.

Stack of penalties Mashinsky now carries

Mashinsky pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges and was sentenced to 12 years in May 2025, well below the 20-year term prosecutors requested. A judge ordered him to forfeit more than $48 million. He was arrested in July 2023 and released on $40 million bail before trial.

The CFTC has permanently banned Mashinsky from trading. Separately, he agreed to a $10 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that also bars him from the crypto industry. Mashinsky has forfeited all of his claims to bankruptcy proceeds from the Celsius estate.

Where creditors stand

Celsius creditors had received more than $3.4 billion through the company's bankruptcy as of August 2026, according to the attorney general's office. The figure reflects distributions to a customer base that once numbered in the millions and lost access to deposits when Celsius froze withdrawals in June 2022 before filing for Chapter 11 protection a month later.

What the bar covers operationally

The New York order permanently excludes Mashinsky from the securities, commodities, and crypto industries — a broad designation that blocks him from registering, brokering, advising on, or trading covered products in the state. It also extends to any entity he controls. Combined with the CFTC and FTC actions, the result is a near-total U.S. industry ban.

James framed the agreement as a warning to founders of yield-bearing crypto products marketed to retail depositors. "I won't allow scammers to prey on unsuspecting New Yorkers," she wrote in announcing the settlement.

The New York deal leaves open Mashinsky's pending motion to vacate his federal sentence. That motion, and whether the $10 million forfeiture to the U.S. government is completed, will determine how much of the $35 million New York ultimately collects.