A US federal judge in the Southern District of New York has sentenced Alex Mashinsky, founder of defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, to 12 years in prison. Beforehand, the court heard from multiple former Celsius customers who testified to the damage Mashinsky’s actions had wrought on their lives. In hours-long Ask Mashinsky Anything livestreams, the Celsius founder preached to thousands of his congregation of “Celsians.”However, in May 2022, things went south. In July of that year, Celsius filed for bankruptcy, trapping more than $4.7 billion of its customers’ funds. When Mashinsky was arrested, prosecutors accused him of misleading Celsius customers about the nature of the business.