Alleged crypto crook Alex Mashinsky will be using the same lawyers as convicted crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried, according to reports.
The ex-boss of collapsed crypto lender Celsius told a judge that he would be willing to waive any conflicts of interest there might be by using Marc L. Mukasey and Torrey K. Young, who represented the ex-FTX boss, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.
Mukasey and Young refused to confirm to Decrypt that they would continue to represent Mashinsky in a phone call. Mukasey is a high-profile lawyer who other than representing Bankman-Fried, has also represented the Trump Organization.
The DOJ last year hit Mashinsky with seven criminal charges, alleging he was part of a “years-long scheme” to make it seem that Celsius’ assets were more valuable than they were—all while pocketing $42 million by defrauding customers.
Celsius was one of the biggest digital asset brands in the world and claimed to manage over $25 billion in assets.
Here Are All the Federal Charges Celsius Founder Mashinsky Faces
The U.S. Department of Justice today arrested former CEO of bankrupt crypto lender Celsius Network Alex Mashinsky and filed seven criminal charges against him. At a Thursday press conference, Michael A. Brodack, special agent in charge of the Criminal Division of the New York Field Office, said that 57-year-old Mashinsky earned more than $40 million after allegedly manipulating the price of CEL, Celsius’ native digital asset, and pocketing the returns. Brodack added: “When something seems too...
The platform promised investors huge returns if they put their crypto on the protocol and claimed to be “safe” but it stopped user withdrawals last June due to “extreme market conditions.”
It then filed for bankruptcy a month later, with papers showing its liabilities outweigh its assets by $1.2 billion.
The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission all hit Mashinsky with civil lawsuits, too.
Bankman-Fried co-founded crypto megabrand FTX, which had a number of services but was best known as a platform that allowed users to buy and sell crypto.
It went bust in November 2022, though, and Bankman-Fried was one year later convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering charges for criminally mismanaging the company.
He will be sentenced next month.
