- The former CEO of the cryptocurrency platform Celsius Network Inc. (Celsius), and his business partners Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein have been ordered to pay a total of $16.5 million to resolve the FTC’s charges that they deceived users by falsely promising that deposits made to their cryptocurrency platform would be safe and always available.
- The FTC complaint, made in July 2023, alleged that Celsius and its co-founders promised consumers that Celsius was “safer” than a bank or other traditional financial institutions and misrepresented that their deposits were safe because Celsius earned profits at “no risk” to consumers by making secured loans to other exchanges.
- Mashinsky and Leon have agreed to a ban on marketing or selling products or services that can be used to deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw assets. Additionally, Goldstein has agreed to a ban on marketing or selling retail products or services that can be used to buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, distribute, or trade cryptocurrency. The settlement orders require Mashinsky to pay $10 million, Leon to pay $4.1 million, and Goldstein to pay $2.4 million.