Alex Mashinsky, who was indicted on July 13, 2023, for fraud, conspiracy and market manipulation, admitted to deceiving Celsius Network users during a hearing before U.S. District Judge John Koeltl on Tuesday.

Mashinsky, 59, founder of the lending platform, pleaded guilty to charges of commodity fraud and a fraudulent scheme to manipulate the price of Celsius’s native CEL token.

In court, Mashinsky revealed that he had provided Celsius customers with “false comfort” by claiming in a 2021 interview that the company had received regulatory approval for its “Earn” program, which was false. This program allowed users to earn returns on their cryptocurrency deposits . Furthermore, Mashinsky also failed to disclose that he had been selling his own CEL holdings.

As part of the plea agreement with prosecutors, Mashinsky agreed not to appeal any sentence of up to 30 years, the maximum he faces on these two charges. Sentencing is scheduled for April 8, 2025.

Celsius, founded in 2017, was forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022 after a mass exodus of customers attempted to withdraw their funds amid a drop in cryptocurrency prices.

Initially, many users found themselves without access to their investments. In fact, as reported by this media in August, the company has paid up to $2.5 billion in dollars and cryptocurrencies to its creditors. After emerging from bankruptcy on January 31, the company has reoriented its operations towards Bitcoin mining.

Following the announcement of Mashinsky’s guilty plea, the CEL token reacted upwards, rising 12% from $0.25 to $0.30. It then corrected and is trading around $0.26 at the time of writing.