Celsius executive pleads guilty, agrees to cooperate in case against CEO – Decrypt

Ronny Cohen-Pavone, 36, a former executive at Alex Mashinsky’s bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network, has pleaded guilty to four criminal charges. court documents shared by Inner City Press,

Cohen-Pavone faces a combined maximum sentence of 65 years in prison on charges related to securities market manipulation in the CEL token and wire fraud.

In addition to his prison sentence, Cohen-Pavon must also pay restitution in a court-specified amount.

His sentencing date has been set for December 11, 2024, before U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan. He will remain on bail till that time.

Cohen-Pavone reached agreement with the US Attorney’s Office

According to court documents shared by reutersThe U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York has accepted Cohen-Pavone’s guilty plea.

The U.S. Attorney reached an agreement with Cohen-Pavone to cooperate in the case against Mashinsky, with the understanding that “no testimony or other information given by the defendant will be used against him in any criminal tax prosecution.” Prosecutors may recommend that Judge Koeltl take Cohen-Pavon’s assistance into account when imposing his sentence.

Cohen-Pavone served as chief revenue officer at Celsius and reportedly received payments of approximately $3.6 million from the firm.

He was arrested on July 13 as a co-defendant in a filing among the US SEC, CFTC and FTC against Alex Mahinsky on charges related to market manipulation, securities fraud and wire fraud.

On September 11, Mashinsky filed a petition with the court, arguing that the Federal Trade Commission’s case against him should be dismissed entirely.

His lawyers argued that the charges do not demonstrate that he knowingly made false statements to fraudulently obtain customer information from a financial institution.

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Source: decrypt.co