TLDR
- Roni Cohen-Pavon agreed to a $1.07M forfeiture judgment before sentencing.
- The former Celsius executive pleaded guilty in 2023 to fraud and CEL price manipulation.
- Prosecutors said the forfeiture amount represents proceeds tied to his crimes.
- Cohen-Pavonās lawyers asked for time served, citing cooperation with authorities.
- Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky received a 12-year prison sentence in 2025.
The U.S. government is seeking more than $1 million in forfeiture from former Celsius chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon ahead of his sentencing in a fraud and market manipulation case tied to the collapsed crypto lender.
In a Tuesday filing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said Cohen-Pavon agreed to a $1,070,000 judgment. The amount represents proceeds linked to the criminal conduct he admitted to as part of his guilty plea.
Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty in September 2023 to fraud and conspiracy to commit price manipulation involving Celsiusās CEL token. His sentencing is scheduled for Thursday before Judge John Koeltl.
The filing said Cohen-Pavon may receive credit for funds in cash or cryptocurrency that he held on Celsius and that were paid through the companyās bankruptcy process.
Cohen-Pavon Faces Sentencing After Guilty Plea
Cohen-Pavon was one of the senior executives at Celsius before the crypto lending platform collapsed in 2022. Prosecutors accused him of taking part in conduct designed to manipulate the price of CEL, the platformās native token.
The former executive admitted that he participated in the manipulation of CEL and failed to stop the activity. In a letter to the court, Cohen-Pavon said he accepted responsibility for his actions and acknowledged that he could have left the company earlier.
His lawyers have asked the court to sentence him to time served. They cited his cooperation with federal prosecutors and argued that he provided assistance during the broader Celsius criminal investigation.
The government filing did not recommend a specific prison sentence. Instead, prosecutors asked the judge to consider sentencing guidelines that allow reductions for defendants who provide substantial assistance to authorities.
Celsius Collapse Remains Part of Crypto Court Cases
Celsius was one of the largest crypto company failures of 2022. The platform offered high-yield crypto lending products before freezing withdrawals and filing for bankruptcy.
The companyās collapse followed wider stress across the digital asset market after the Terra ecosystem failure and came before other large crypto bankruptcies, including FTX.
Former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud. He also agreed to forfeit more than $48 million.
Federal prosecutors accused Celsius executives of misleading customers about the companyās financial condition and manipulating CEL to support the tokenās market price.
Cohen-Pavonās case is separate from Mashinskyās sentencing but remains tied to the same broader Celsius enforcement actions. His cooperation agreement may affect the final sentence imposed by the court.
Crypto Enforcement Cases Continue in New York
The Celsius case is one of several major crypto prosecutions handled in the Southern District of New York after the 2022 market downturn.
In a separate case, Judge Lewis Kaplan recently ordered that $10 million in assets connected to former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried be applied toward his forfeiture judgment. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay more than $11 billion after his conviction over fraud tied to FTX.
Bankman-Fried has continued to challenge his conviction and sentence through an appeal. In April, Kaplan denied his request for a new trial.
