TLDR
- Celsius co-founders Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein will pay a combined $6.5 million to settle FTC charges
- Leon pays $4.1 million; Goldstein pays $2.4 million under separate court orders
- The FTC accused Celsius of falsely claiming customer deposits were safe and insured
- Former CEO Alex Mashinsky’s $10 million April settlement brings total payments from all three co-founders to $16.5 million
- Both Leon and Goldstein are banned from marketing or selling crypto-related products and services
Two Celsius co-founders have agreed to pay a combined $6.5 million to settle fraud charges brought by the Federal Trade Commission. The settlements close the FTC’s cases against Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein, following the 2022 collapse of the crypto lending platform.
Founders of Celsius Network ordered to pay $16.5 million to resolve FTC charges. Proposed orders also ban defendants from marketing or selling products or services that can be used to deposit or withdraw assets: https://t.co/pqoYVsdP0a
— FTC (@FTC) July 20, 2026
Leon, who served as Celsius’ chief strategy officer, will pay $4.1 million under an order entered by U.S. District Judge Denise Cote on June 29. A $4.72 billion judgment was also entered against him, though most of that amount is suspended if he meets the settlement conditions.
Goldstein, Celsius’ former chief technology officer, will pay $2.4 million under an order signed Monday. He faces the same suspended judgment structure tied to his compliance with settlement terms.
What the FTC Alleged
The FTC filed its case against Celsius and its executives in July 2023. It accused the company of presenting itself as safer than traditional banks while making false claims about its reserves and insurance coverage.
Celsius told customers they could withdraw funds at any time. The company also claimed it held a $750 million insurance policy covering customer deposits and said it did not make unsecured loans.
The FTC said those claims were not true. According to regulators, Celsius had made $1.2 billion in unsecured loans by April 2022 and did not have the insurance policy it advertised.
Regulators also said Celsius executives kept reassuring customers even as the company moved toward bankruptcy. The FTC stated they “continued to claim that customers’ deposits were safe days before the company filed for bankruptcy.”
Celsius suspended withdrawals in June 2022 and filed for bankruptcy the following month. At its peak, the platform held around $25 billion in assets. When it collapsed, customers had roughly $4.7 billion in funds they could not access.
Mashinsky Settlements and Prison Sentence
Both new settlements follow the FTC’s April agreement with former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky. He agreed to pay $10 million and accepted a permanent ban on promoting asset-related products.
The three co-founders have now paid a combined $16.5 million under their FTC settlements. Each payment also counts toward the $4.72 billion judgment tied to consumer harm alleged by regulators.
Mashinsky also received a permanent trading ban from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission in a separate civil enforcement case. In May 2025, a federal judge sentenced him to 12 years in prison after he pleaded guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud. The court ordered him to forfeit more than $48 million.
Creditor Recovery Continues
The bankruptcy recovery process for Celsius customers has continued separately. Celsius began a third creditor distribution of around $220.6 million in August 2025, bringing total recoveries to nearly 65% of eligible claims at that time.
With the Leon and Goldstein orders now entered, the FTC has settled with all three Celsius co-founders named in its 2023 case.
