Federal prosecutors have asked for a reduced sentence in the Celsius executive sentencing case for Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former chief revenue officer who turned government witness. US Attorney Jay Clayton filed a letter on Monday citing Cohen-Pavon’s substantial assistance, stopping short of naming a specific term.
The government recommended deferring to sentencing guidelines for an appropriate reduction. Cohen-Pavon had been prepared to testify against Alex Mashinsky, the former chief executive of the defunct cryptocurrency lending platform. That cooperation, prosecutors noted, likely influenced Mashinsky’s decision to plead guilty months before his scheduled January 2025 trial.
The cooperation timeline
Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy to manipulate the price of Celsius’s CEL token in September 2023. The charges stemmed from his role in activities that preceded the platform’s 2022 collapse, which wiped out billions in customer funds. His cooperation became public immediately upon entering the plea.
Clayton’s letter, filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, stated that Mashinsky knew Cohen-Pavon had turned. That knowledge, the government argued, was a significant factor in the former CEO’s guilty plea.
The Celsius executive sentencing follows Mashinsky conviction
Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud. He had been the most visible figure associated with Celsius, a platform that drew in retail deposits with high yields before its funding model broke during the 2022 market downturn.
The Celsius executive sentencing hearing was moved from 7 May to 13 May by Judge John Koeltl. Cohen-Pavon’s defence team asked for time served, arguing that their client took full responsibility for his role in the token manipulation scheme.
| Event | Date | Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Cohen-Pavon guilty plea | September 2023 | Fraud, conspiracy charges |
| Mashinsky guilty plea | Late 2024 | Commodities, securities fraud |
| Mashinsky sentencing | May 2025 | 12 years |
| Cohen-Pavon sentencing | 13 May 2025 | Pending |
The wider collapse
Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July 2022, part of a broader wave of failures that swept through the cryptocurrency sector. FTX and Voyager Digital collapsed in the same period. The platforms shared similar structural weaknesses around leverage, customer fund segregation, and balance sheet opacity.
Mashinsky had promoted Celsius aggressively during the 2020 to 2021 bull market, claiming the platform could deliver sustainable double-digit yields on deposits. When the market turned, the model fractured. Prosecutors alleged that Mashinsky and senior executives manipulated the CEL token price to maintain the appearance of platform health whilst the underlying position deteriorated.
The Celsius executive sentencing request cited Cohen-Pavon’s substantial assistance as justification for leniency. The government did not specify how many meetings or how much testimony Cohen-Pavon provided, only that his cooperation was material to the case against Mashinsky.
The Mashinsky settlement
Separately, Mashinsky settled with the Federal Trade Commission in a case that saw him agree to a 10 million dollar payment. That settlement did not affect the criminal proceedings. The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had both pursued civil actions against Celsius and its executives.
Cohen-Pavon’s lawyers argued ahead of the Celsius executive sentencing that their client’s cooperation distinguished him from other executives who fought the charges. The defence submission highlighted that Cohen-Pavon met with prosecutors multiple times and provided documents that formed the basis of the case against Mashinsky.
The Bankman-Fried parallel
The Celsius executive sentencing will close the criminal cases tied to the platform. It follows a separate decision last week in which a federal judge denied Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial. Bankman-Fried, the former FTX chief executive, claimed that Judge Lewis Kaplan showed bias during his 2023 trial. That motion was rejected. He still has an appeal pending on his conviction and sentence.
Both Celsius and FTX collapsed within months of each other in 2022. Both involved allegations of customer fund misuse. Both chief executives pleaded guilty. The pattern of executive cooperation in exchange for reduced sentences has been consistent across the cases that emerged from that period.
Sentencing is set for 13 May. The government has not opposed time served, but left the final decision to the judge’s interpretation of the guidelines.
This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute investment advice. Readers should not act on any information contained here without first consulting an authorised financial adviser. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.
