Celsius Founder's Legal Team Fires Back: "Prosecutors Stripping Alex Mashinsky of Humanity"

Alex Mashinsky's lawyers aren't holding back, slamming the U.S. government's push for a hefty 20-year sentence as nothing short of a "death-in-prison" decree for the ex-Celsius Network CEO.

In a fiery May 5 filing, Mashinsky's legal squad blasted the government's "venom-laced submission," claiming it paints their client as a cold-hearted predator out to "target," "harm," and "steal" from innocent folks. They accuse the Department of Justice of cherry-picking facts and ignoring Mashinsky's life story just to "dehumanize" him.

"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," Mashinsky's lawyers fumed.

The legal team didn't stop there, pointing out how the filing conveniently glosses over Mashinsky's successful 30-year business career in tightly regulated fields, all before Celsius even existed, without a single stain on his record.

Mashinsky's defenders are livid, claiming the DOJ's twisted narrative makes it seem like their client "was born at 59 years old, a fiend," and that this "renders all the more absurd the notion that a man dedicated to service throughout his life suddenly underwent a Jekyll-to-Hyde transformation."

Whole Person

The defense isn't mincing words, calling out prosecutors for using "savage and primal terms usually reserved for the most violent criminals" to describe Mashinsky's actions. They're urging the court to look at the man as a "whole person" before dropping the hammer on May 8.

Let's not forget, U.S. prosecutors are gunning for a 20-year lockup for Mashinsky, branding his moves as a calculated scam that left thousands of customers holding the bag for billions. Word on the street is that Mashinsky and his wife pulled out a cool $12 million in crypto from Celsius before the whole thing went belly up. Celsius, launched back in 2018, ballooned to 200 employees and was juggling around $10 billion in crypto by 2021.

And get this, over 200 victims have stepped up to the plate, submitting statements ahead of sentencing and many of them are straight-up calling for Mashinsky to spend the rest of his life behind bars.