Federal Prosecutors Seek $1M Asset Seizure from Former Celsius Executive Before Sentencing Date
While former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky consented to forfeit $48 million and received a 12-year prison term, Roni-Cohen Pavon faces a significantly smaller forfeiture amount of $1 million.
The former chief revenue officer of the now-defunct crypto lending platform Celsius, Roni Cohen-Pavon, is expected to surrender more than $1 million under a forfeiture order from United States authorities in advance of his upcoming sentencing proceeding.
According to a court document filed on Tuesday, Jay Clayton, the US Attorney representing the Southern District of New York, stated that Cohen-Pavon had agreed to a judgment totaling $1,070,000, which "representing the amount of proceeds traceable" to criminal activities committed by the ex-Celsius executive. Clayton indicated that Cohen-Pavon would be granted credit for whatever assets, whether in cash or cryptocurrency that he maintained on Celsius, which were paid through the platform's bankruptcy proceedings.
In September 2023, Cohen-Pavon entered a guilty plea to charges of fraud and conspiracy to commit price manipulation in connection with Celsius's CEL token. Clayton refrained from recommending any particular sentence for the Celsius executive, choosing instead to request that the judge take into account the guidelines for an "appropriate sentencing reduction for a defendant who has rendered substantial assistance." His sentencing appearance is set to take place at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Thursday.
The implosion of Celsius represented one of the crypto industry's most substantial bankruptcies during 2022, potentially triggered by the collapse of the Terra ecosystem and subsequently leading to major exchanges such as FTX seeking Chapter 11 protection in the US. Alex Mashinsky, the former CEO of Celsius, received a 12-year prison sentence in May 2025 following his guilty plea to commodities and securities fraud charges and consented to forfeit in excess of $48 million.
During April, Cohen-Pavon's legal representatives requested that he receive a sentence of time served, pointing to his cooperation agreement with government authorities and his potential contribution to Mashinsky's guilty plea. They stated that the Celsius executive accepted "full responsibility for his conduct."
I pleaded guilty because I am guilty. I participated in the manipulation of the CEL token. I did not stop it when I should have, and I did not leave when I could have. I take full responsibility for that.
Roni Cohen-Pavon in a letter to Judge John Koeltl
Judge orders $10 million added to judgment of former FTX CEO
This past Thursday, SDNY Judge Lewis Kaplan issued an order requiring that $10 million in assets linked to Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried be applied toward the ex-FTX CEO's forfeiture agreement. Bankman-Fried received a 25-year prison sentence and was directed to pay in excess of $11 billion in relation to his involvement in defrauding FTX users and investors.
During April, Kaplan rejected Bankman-Fried's request for a new trial, with the former CEO asserting that the judge demonstrated "manifest prejudice" throughout his court proceedings in 2023. As of Wednesday, his appeal to the Second Circuit seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence remained pending.