U.S. prosecutors ask court to reject Celsius ex-CEOโs motion to vacate conviction, saying his legal arguments โlack meritโ
On August 19, two federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York opposed Celsiusโs former chief executive officerโs attempt to convince the prosecution to revoke his conviction. They said his legal arguments were โbaselessโ and asked the court to dismiss Alex Mashinskyโs motion to vacate without holding a hearing.
Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 for commodities fraud and securities fraud. In early May, he told the court he would represent himself and then filed the motion to vacate.
In this motion, he includes allegations against the crypto exchange FTX, as well as his former colleague, Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former Chief Revenue Officer of Celsius. He is seeking a chance to have the case re-examined procedurally.
In response to the application, the prosecutors filed court documents to counter it, arguing that his legal claims are unsupported by factual assertions of his own innocence and should be dismissed directly without a hearing.
The filing states that Mashinsky neither submitted sworn testimony nor provided new evidence. The substance of his motion, it says, is merely a repetition of old materials, shifting responsibility to a third party, and accusing his former lawyer of incompetenceโbut it contains no factual statements about his own innocence.
The case dates back to 2022. That year, the cryptocurrency market was in severe turmoil, and Celsius filed for bankruptcy, becoming another crypto giant to collapse after Terraform Labs.
As early as 2023, authorities brought a lawsuit against Mashinsky and former Chief Revenue Officer Roni Cohen-Pavon. Both ultimately chose to plead guilty.
Among them, Mashinsky was sentenced in May 2025 to 144 months in prison for committing commodities and securities fraud, and was fined $48 million. He also reached a $10 million settlement with the CFTC.
Notably, the defendant Cohen-Pavon in the same case, for providing โsubstantial assistanceโ leads to the prosecutors against Mashinsky, had his prison term expire in May and was released immediately in court.
The judge currently handling the case has not yet responded to the prosecutorsโ request for dismissal. Whether Mashinskyโs legal fight will ultimately achieve a breakthrough remains to be seen.
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