Celsius Founder Mashinsky Says He’s Sticking With Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers: Report

Alleged crypto crook Alex Mashinsky will be using the same lawyers as convicted crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried, according to reports. 

The ex-boss of collapsed crypto lender Celsius told a judge that he would be willing to waive any conflicts of interest there might be by using Marc L. Mukasey and Torrey K. Young, who represented the ex-FTX boss, Bloomberg reported Tuesday. 

Mukasey and Young refused to confirm to Decrypt that they would continue to represent Mashinsky in a phone call. Mukasey is a high-profile lawyer who other than representing Bankman-Fried, has also represented the Trump Organization. 

The DOJ last year hit Mashinsky with seven criminal charges, alleging he was part of  a “years-long scheme” to make it seem that Celsius’ assets were more valuable than they were—all while pocketing $42 million by defrauding customers. 

Celsius was one of the biggest digital asset brands in the world and claimed to manage over $25 billion in assets. 

The platform promised investors huge returns if they put their crypto on the protocol and claimed to be “safe” but it stopped user withdrawals last June due to “extreme market conditions.” 

It then filed for bankruptcy a month later, with papers showing its liabilities outweigh its assets by $1.2 billion.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Trade Commission all hit Mashinsky with civil lawsuits, too. 

Bankman-Fried co-founded crypto megabrand FTX, which had a number of services but was best known as a platform that allowed users to buy and sell crypto. 

It went bust in November 2022, though, and Bankman-Fried was one year later convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering charges for criminally mismanaging the company. 

He will be sentenced next month.