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INTEL
PIG BUTCHERING: now the #1 loss category in the US by estimated volume / HUSHPUPPI: the Instagram that became the evidence -- Case 001 open / BEC: one spoofed email, one wire, seven figures -- see the methodology / ROSS ULBRICHT: full pardon January 21 2025 after 11+ years -- Case 013 open / ALL FIGURES LABELED: estimate vs conviction vs market collapse -- see Methodology / UNODC 2023: $5.4B estimated annually from SE Asia pig-butchering compounds [UNVERIFIED] / PIG BUTCHERING: now the #1 loss category in the US by estimated volume / HUSHPUPPI: the Instagram that became the evidence -- Case 001 open / BEC: one spoofed email, one wire, seven figures -- see the methodology / ROSS ULBRICHT: full pardon January 21 2025 after 11+ years -- Case 013 open / ALL FIGURES LABELED: estimate vs conviction vs market collapse -- see Methodology / UNODC 2023: $5.4B estimated annually from SE Asia pig-butchering compounds [UNVERIFIED]
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COMPANY · PLATFORM

Celsius Network

🇺🇸 Hoboken, New Jersey, United States (founded in New York/London) · FOUNDED 2017
THE FIGURE
~$4.7B
Customer assets frozen when Celsius halted withdrawals in June 2022 (FTC figure).
WHAT IT SAID IT WAS

A crypto lender promising up to ~18% a year on deposits, 'safer than a bank': 'Unbank Yourself'.

WHAT IT REALLY WAS

Made risky, uncollateralised bets with customer crypto while its CEO said it did not, and propped up its CEL token as he quietly sold his own; froze withdrawals in June 2022 with $4.7B of customer assets inside.

THE STORY

Alex Mashinsky founded Celsius in 2017 and pitched it on weekly livestreams as a place to earn up to 18% on crypto with none of a bank's risk. In reality it lent uncollateralised, took losses on DeFi bets and used customer money to buy its own CEL token while Mashinsky sold his. When the market crashed it froze withdrawals on 12 June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy a month later with about $4.7 billion of customers' assets trapped. The FTC's $4.7 billion judgment was suspended in favour of the creditors, who took over the company on 31 January 2024 and received over $3 billion in distributions. Mashinsky pleaded guilty in December 2024 and was sentenced to 12 years.

WHO RAN IT
Alex Mashinsky ▸
co-founder and CEO · open the case file
Roni Cohen-Pavon
chief revenue officer — pleaded guilty September 2023 to CEL manipulation; cooperated
Shlomi Daniel Leon
co-founder and chief strategy officer — FTC settlement; lifetime ban from handling consumer assets (2026)
Hanoch 'Nuke' Goldstein
co-founder and CTO — FTC settlement (2026)
WHO WAS HURT
~600,000 Celsius account holders
HOW IT ENDED
Founded
2017
Based
Hoboken, New Jersey, United States (founded in New York/London)
Ended
2022-07-13
How
bankruptcy — froze withdrawals 12 June 2022, Chapter 11 filed 13 July 2022; emerged 31 January 2024 to distribute assets and wind down

FTC settlement July 2023: $4.7B judgment against Celsius, suspended so assets go to creditors in bankruptcy; SEC and CFTC also sued. Plan confirmed November 2023; on emergence (31 January 2024) it began distributing over $3B in crypto and cash and handed creditors a new mining company, Ionic Digital. Founders' FTC settlements totalled $16.5M (2026). Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in May 2025.

SOURCES
ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2023/07/ftc-reaches-settlementbusinesswire.com/news/home/20240131994097/en/Celsius-Emerges-from-Chap
Facts as published in court records, regulator releases and the sources above. Anyone charged and not convicted is alleged only.
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