Alex Mashinsky, former boss of the now-defunct crypto lending firm Celsius, is set to begin his criminal fraud trial on September 17, 2024. US District Judge John Koeltl confirmed the news during a hearing on Tuesday, adding that there will be three pretrial conferences in March, July, and September. Mashinsky is currently free on $40 million bail, with restrictions on expenditures over $10,000, and is subject to electronic monitoring.Mashinsky is facing a range of fraud and conspiracy charges related to his high-risk lending firm, including securities fraud. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are prosecuting the case. During the hearing, Mashinsky’s defense lawyers hinted that part of their defense may be to claim cryptocurrencies are not securities, which is a contentious legal issue in the United States.The trial date is over a year away from the court trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), which began on Tuesday. FTX is charged with commodities fraud, securities fraud, and wire fraud, alongside conspiracy to defraud his exchange’s customers.Last month, Celsius creditors voted in favor of a restructuring plan that will see roughly $2 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) returned to them, alongside equity distribution in a new company that’s inherited some of Celsius’ old businesses.

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Information	Details
Geography	North America
Countries	🇺🇸
Sentiment	neutral
Relevance Score	8
People	Robert Frenchman, Alex Mashinsky, Sam Bankman-Fried, John Koeltl
Companies	Bloomberg, PrimeXBT, Federal Trade Commission (FTC), Binance, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
Currencies	US Dollar, Ethereum, Feathercoin, Sector, Bitcoin
Securities	None