The Federal Trade Commission has secured $16.5 million in settlements from three co-founders of collapsed cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network, resolving a 2023 enforcement action.
The individual settlements follow Celsius Network’s own 2023 agreement with the FTC, under which the company accepted a $4.7 billion monetary judgment that was suspended to allow asset returns through bankruptcy.
Former Chief Executive Officer Alexander Mashinsky, former Chief Strategy Officer Shlomi Daniel Leon, and former Chief Technology Officer Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein are each named in the 2026 settlements.
Mashinsky agreed to the largest individual judgment of $10 million, while Leon agreed to $4.1 million and Goldstein agreed to $2.4 million in their respective settlements with the regulator.
The FTC originally filed its complaint in federal court in July 2023, alleging that Celsius and its co-founders made a series of deceptive and unfair representations to consumers about the safety of their deposits.
Celsius marketed interest-bearing accounts, cryptocurrency loans, and exchange services, promising consumers the platform was “safer” than traditional banks and that profits were earned at “no risk” to customers.
The agency alleged that Celsius falsely claimed customer assets were protected by a $750 million insurance policy and that the company maintained sufficient reserves to satisfy customer withdrawals at any time.
According to the FTC, Celsius executives continued to publicly claim that customer deposits were safe just days before the company filed for bankruptcy, a claim the agency described as entirely false.
Beyond monetary penalties, the settlements impose permanent restrictions on all three co-founders, barring them from marketing or selling products related to depositing, exchanging, investing, or withdrawing assets.
Goldstein faces a specific permanent prohibition on marketing or selling retail products or services that can be used to buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, distribute, or trade cryptocurrency on any platform.
Mashinsky and Leon are additionally barred from disclosing consumers’ nonpublic personal information to third parties without obtaining the consumer’s express informed consent beforehand.
The FTC’s original complaint alleged three categories of legal violations, including deceptive misrepresentations under Section 5 of the FTC Act and misappropriation of consumer cryptocurrency deposits as an unfair practice.
The complaint also alleged that defendants violated Section 521 of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act by making false or fraudulent representations to obtain customer financial information, including bank account numbers and cryptocurrency wallet addresses.
The settlement agreements were filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and will take effect upon receiving formal court approval.
The FTC approved the settlement with Mashinsky by a 3-0 vote, taken before former Commissioner Melissa Holyoak departed the agency earlier this year.