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Lawyers for Celsius founder Alex Mashinsky argue that prosecutors are stripping him of his humanity to support a harsh sentence disconnected from his true actions.
Alex Mashinsky‘s legal team has criticized the U.S. government’s request to sentence the former Celsius Network CEO to at least 20 years in prison, calling it a “death-in-prison sentence†for a non-violent, first-time offender.
In a May 5 filing, Mashinsky’s lawyers said the government’s “venom-laced submission recasts this case as one involving a predator with an intent to ‘target’ victims, ‘harm’ them, and ‘steal’ their money.†They argue the Department of Justice ignored Mashinsky’s background in order “to dehumanize him.â€
“So their submission says nothing about the persecution of his Soviet Jewish refusenik family. There is no acknowledgment of the injuries and losses he suffered as a member of the Israeli Defense Forces.â€
Mashinsky’s lawyers
The lawyers say the submission also omits Mashinsky’s businesses “he founded over thirty years in heavily regulated environments that brought him success well before Celsius, with nary a blemish on his record.â€
Mashinsky’s team claims the DOJ’s narrative paints him as if he “was born at 59 years old, a fiend,†and that this approach “renders all the more absurd the notion that a man dedicated to service throughout his life suddenly underwent a Jekyll-to-Hyde transformation.â€
According to the defense, prosecutors have used “savage and primal terms usually reserved for the most violent criminals,†such as saying Mashinsky “deliberately targeted real, ‘everyday’ people,†“plundered†and “preyed,†“destroy[ed] lives,†and “does not even feint at contrition.†The defense has asked the court to consider Mashinsky as a “whole person†ahead of the May 8 sentencing.
As crypto.news reported earlier, U.S. prosecutors are seeking a 20-year prison sentence for Mashinsky, calling his actions a calculated fraud that left thousands of customers with billions in losses. According to reports, Mashinsky and his wife withdrew an estimated $12 million in crypto from the Celsius Network before the bankruptcy proceedings began. Celsius, launched in 2018, grew to 200 employees and managed around $10 billion in crypto assets by 2021.
More than 200 victim statements were submitted ahead of sentencing, with many calling for a life sentence for Alex Mashinsky.
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