Celsius co-founders Leon, Goldstein to pay FTC over $6M
Celsius co-founders Shlomi Daniel Leon and Hanoch “Nuke” Goldstein must pay more than $6 million to settle FTC allegations that they misled customers about the safety of the Celsius crypto-lending platform before its collapse. Goldstein will pay $2.014 million; Leon will pay $4.1 million. Both settlements include bans on marketing or selling products used to buy, sell, deposit, withdraw, or trade crypto or other assets. The FTC said Celsius falsely claimed it had enough reserves for withdrawals, a $750 million insurance policy for customer deposits, and no unsecured loans, while executives continued making safety claims shortly before bankruptcy. Celsius filed for bankruptcy in July 2022 owing users $4.7 billion. The payouts will be credited against the FTC’s broader $4.72 billion judgment tied to consumer harm. Former CEO Alex Mashinsky separately settled with the FTC for $10 million and was later sentenced to 12 years in prison in a criminal case.
