Celsius CEO Wants a Wedding Before the Slammer: Is Mashinsky Plotting His Last Exit?
In a move raising more eyebrows than sympathy, disgraced Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky has just been granted permission to travel after his sentencing, however, this time not for a business deal, but to walk his daughter down the aisle.
The catch? This isn’t your average crypto dad. Mashinsky is awaiting judgment on federal fraud charges that could land him in jail for two decades.
Court filings show that Judge John Koeltl has approved Mashinsky’s request to travel from New York to Memphis, Tennessee, between May 26 and May 29 for the wedding, just weeks after his May 8 sentencing hearing.
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky is FINALLY getting sentenced next week! The DOJ has recommended a 20-year sentence. I started using X & YouTube in 2022 after losing 3.1 BTC & 11.6 ETH to Celsius (over $300K at today’s prices), so we’re coming FULL CIRCLE. pic.twitter.com/wUfJUMAZxk
— Tiffany Fong (@TiffanyFong_) May 3, 2025
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The public document was briefly visible on the docket before mysteriously disappearing. That detail alone has crypto Twitter buzzing: Why remove a routine approval if it’s above board?
Mashinsky, 59, pleaded guilty to commodities fraud charges and price manipulation involving Celsius’s native CEL token.
Celsius collapsed in mid-2022 after freezing customer withdrawals amid market turmoil, exposing a multi-billion-dollar hole in its balance sheet.
Once hailed for offering high-yield crypto interest accounts, the platform was later revealed to operate more like a Ponzi scheme, using new deposits to pay old obligations.
At its peak, Celsius managed over $25 billion in assets before filing for bankruptcy, leaving over 250,000 users in the red.
He’s accused of bilking customers out of billions, pumping the CEL price, and publicly fronting Celsius as “safe as a bank” while privately cashing out and preparing for collapse. Celsius went bankrupt in 2022, leaving over 250,000 users in the lurch.
Prosecutors want him put away for 20 years. His lawyers say one year and a day is enough, calling the DOJ’s ask a “death-in-prison” sentence, and painting Mashinsky as a non-violent first-time offender with a now-ruined reputation.
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Thousands of Crushed Investors Demand Justice: Mashinsky Heads to Wedding Season
But let’s be clear: this isn’t a victimless crypto collapse. Celsius’s implosion was one of the dominoes that cascaded through 2022’s DeFi death spiral. Mashinsky didn’t just lose money; he misled millions while cashing out big behind the scenes.
Now, with a possible 20-year sentence on the table, he wants to hit the wedding circuit first.
Sure, there’s no indication he’ll skip town. But ask yourself: if the man who ran a $25 billion lending empire through a single dashboard asked to travel post-sentencing, would you blink?
The Department of Justice hasn’t objected yet. But this moment may sting for the thousands of Celsius victims still piecing their finances back together. Mashinsky gets his photo op. They got liquidation notices.
If this is his last moment of freedom, it’s fitting: suited up, smiling for the cameras, while the door slowly shuts behind.
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