Celsius Co-Founders Leon, Goldstein to Pay $6.5 Million in FTC Settlements
Celsius Network drew customers with high-yield crypto accounts before filing for bankruptcy in July 2022, leaving billions of dollars in customer assets trapped. The Federal Trade Commission sued the company and its co-founders in July 2023, alleging they falsely claimed deposits were always available, backed by a $750 million insurance policy and capable of earning annual yields of as much as 18%.
The FTC said on July 20, 2026, that Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein agreed to pay $4.1 million and $2.4 million, respectively, for a combined $6.5 million. The orders also bar them from marketing or selling certain crypto and asset-deposit products. Including Alexander Mashinsky’s separate $10 million payment, the three Celsius founders will pay $16.5 million to resolve the regulator’s claims.
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The history behind this eventCFTC Permanently Bars Celsius Founder Mashinsky From Trading
Celsius Network marketed itself as a bank-like haven where customers could earn high yields on crypto deposits. From 2018 through June 2022, it took in assets worth about $20 billion before collapsing during that year’s crypto-market rout. The CFTC alleged founder and former CEO Alexander Mashinsky misrepresented the platform’s safety, profitability and regulatory compliance while Celsius pursued uncollateralized loans and other risky strategies, making the case a prominent test of US commodity-law protections for digital-asset customers.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York entered a consent order on June 12, 2026, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced it on June 18. Mashinsky admitted violating federal anti-fraud rules and accepted permanent CFTC trading and registration bans, resolving the civil case filed in July 2023. Separately, he was sentenced on May 8, 2025, to 12 years in prison, fined $50,000 and ordered to forfeit $48,393,446 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud.
Celsius Founder Alex Mashinsky Settles FTC Case for $10 Million
Crypto lending platform Celsius halted customer withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy the following month, exposing its high-risk practices and a massive funding shortfall. On July 13, 2023, the US Federal Trade Commission sued founder Alex Mashinsky and other executives, accusing them of soliciting deposits with false assurances that customer assets were safe and could be withdrawn at any time. The action became a significant consumer-protection case involving a crypto platform.
The US District Court for the Southern District of New York approved the settlement on April 28, 2026. Mashinsky must pay the FTC $10 million and is permanently barred from promoting, marketing or offering products or services that allow customers to deposit, exchange, invest or withdraw assets. The court also entered a $4.72 billion judgment for the FTC, but suspended the remainder of the payment. If Mashinsky made material misrepresentations in his asset disclosures, the FTC may seek to recover the full amount.
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