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Celsius founders banned from broad crypto marketing and custody activity
The court orders bar Alexander Mashinsky, Shlomi Daniel Leon, and Goldstein from advertising or assisting deposits, exchanges, investing, and withdrawals, and require express consent before disclosing nonpublic personal information.
Celsius co-founders are facing permanent court orders that restrict them from marketing and participating in major parts of the crypto and asset-services business, limiting activities tied to deposits, exchanges, investment, withdrawal, and trading.
According to CryptoSlate, Alexander Mashinsky and Shlomi Daniel Leon are barred from advertising, marketing, promoting, offering, or distributing products or services used to deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw assets, with Mashinsky’s order covering assets generally and Leon’s order explicitly covering cryptocurrency, banking and financial assets. Both restrictions apply even if the founders act directly or through intermediaries, and the orders also prohibit material misrepresentations.
Goldstein’s order focuses on retail crypto and bars marketing or offering retail products or services used to buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, distribute, or trade cryptocurrency, including assistance with those sales and marketing activities. The orders also require express informed consent before disclosing consumers’ nonpublic personal information for Mashinsky and Leon.
CryptoSlate reports that the FTC’s filing put the founders’ combined obligations at $16.5 million, including $2.014 million listed in Goldstein’s entered order, and that the restrictions follow allegations that Celsius was marketed as safer than a bank, promised withdrawals at any time, and advertised yields as high as 18.63% APY. Celsius filed for bankruptcy on July 13, 2022, five days after the agency alleged the company claimed it had sufficient reserves on June 7, 2022.