Roni Cohen-Pavon, 36, a former executive at Alex Mashinsky’s bankrupt crypto lending platform Celsius Network, has pleaded guilty to four criminal charges, per court documents shared by Inner City Press.
Cohen-Pavon faces a combined maximum term of imprisonment of 65 years over charges relating to market manipulation of a security in the CEL token and wire fraud.
Along with his prison sentence, Cohen-Pavon will be required to make restitution in an amount to be specified by the court.
His sentencing date is set for December 11, 2024 before the U.S. District Judge John Koeltl in Manhattan. He will continue to be on bail until that time.
Cohen-Pavon reaches agreement with U.S. Attorney Office
According to court documents shared by Reuters, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York has accepted Cohen-Pavon’s guilty plea.
The U.S. Attorney also reached an agreement with Cohen-Pavon for his cooperation in the case against Mashinsky, with an understanding that “no testimony or other information given by the defendant will be used against him in any criminal tax prosecution.” Prosecutors may recommend that Judge Koeltl take Cohen-Pavon’s assistance into account during his sentencing.
Cohen-Pavon served as the chief revenue officer at Celsius and reportedly received about $3.6 million in payments from the firm.
He was arrested on July 13 as the co-accused in the case between the U.S. SEC, CFTC and FTC against Alex Mahinsky on charges related to market manipulation, securities fraud and wire fraud.
On September 11, Mashinsky submitted a court filing arguing to dismiss the Federal Trade Commission’s case against him entirely.
His lawyers argued that the allegations don't demonstrate that he knowingly made false statements to fraudulently obtain customer information from a financial institution.