US Prosecutors Seek Leniency For Roni Cohen-Pavon Over Cooperation In Celsius Case

U.S. prosecutors are asking for leniency for Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former chief revenue officer of defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius, citing his cooperation with the government in the criminal case tied to Celsius’s collapse.

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Bitget

In a Monday letter filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), US Attorney Jay Clayton said Cohen-Pavon provided “substantial assistance” and was prepared to testify against former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky.

Cointelegraph

The prosecutors did not request a specific amount of time for Cohen-Pavon to spend in prison, instead asking the judge to consider the sentencing guidelines for an “appropriate sentencing reduction for a defendant who has rendered substantial assistance.”

Clayton said, “As soon as he pled guilty, Cohen-Pavon’s cooperation was public and known to Mashinsky,” and added that the cooperation was “likely a significant factor in Mashinsky’s decision to plead guilty a few months prior to his January 2025 trial date.”

Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy to commit price manipulation related to Celsius’s CEL token in September 2023.

His sentencing hearing was scheduled before Judge John Koeltl on May 7, but the judge moved it to May 13 on Monday.

The sentencing is expected to wrap up the criminal cases associated with Celsius, with Mashinsky already sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud.

The cooperation request sits within a broader timeline of guilty pleas and sentencing moves described across the reporting.

Cohen-Pavon pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy to commit price manipulation related to Celsius’s CEL token in September 2023, and his cooperation became public immediately upon entering the plea, according to the Financial-News.co.uk account of Clayton’s filing.

Cryptonews.net

The government’s letter, filed with the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, stated that Mashinsky knew Cohen-Pavon had turned, and prosecutors argued that “That knowledge, the government argued, was a significant factor in the former CEO’s guilty plea.”

The Cryptonews.net and Cointelegraph accounts both tie Cohen-Pavon’s cooperation to Mashinsky’s decision to plead guilty before a scheduled January 2025 trial date, with Cryptonews.net quoting Clayton that the cooperation was “likely a significant factor in Mashinsky’s decision to plead guilty a few months prior to his January 2025 trial date.”

Mashinsky was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud, and the sentencing hearing for Cohen-Pavon was moved from 7 May to 13 May by Judge John Koeltl.

Cointelegraph adds that Cohen-Pavon’s lawyers asked for time served ahead of sentencing, saying the former Celsius executive took “full responsibility for his conduct and the harms caused by his participation in the CEL token manipulation scheme.”

Financial-News.co.uk similarly reports that Cohen-Pavon’s defense team asked for time served and emphasized “full responsibility for his role in the token manipulation scheme,” while the government did not specify how many meetings or how much testimony he provided.

Reporting also connects Cohen-Pavon’s sentencing posture to Mashinsky’s already-completed criminal outcome and to a separate regulatory settlement.

“Federal prosecutors are recommending a light sentence for Roni Cohen-Pavon, the former chief revenue officer of defunct cryptocurrency lending platform Celsius”

Cryptonews.net

Cryptonews.net states that Mashinsky “was sentenced to 12 years in prison in May 2025 after pleading guilty to commodities and securities fraud,” and it describes Mashinsky as “the public face of Celsius” and “one of the most prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry at the time.”

Financial-News.co.uk adds that Mashinsky settled with the Federal Trade Commission in a case where he agreed to a “10 million dollar payment,” and it specifies that the settlement “did not affect the criminal proceedings.”

The same Financial-News.co.uk account says that the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission had both pursued civil actions against Celsius and its executives, placing the criminal sentencing within a broader enforcement landscape.

Bitget’s Western Alternative page similarly frames the prosecutors’ request as a recommendation of leniency based on cooperation, stating that the U.S. Attorney’s Office “requested a lenient sentence” and that Clayton emphasized Cohen-Pavon’s willingness “to testify against former CEO Alex Mashinsky.”

Bitget also reports that the prosecutor did not propose a specific sentence but requested the judge to consider a “significant reduction,” while Cohen-Pavon’s lawyer argued for “time served.”

Across the accounts, the sentencing hearing for Cohen-Pavon is consistently described as postponed to May 13, with Cryptonews.net saying the judge moved it from May 7 to May 13 and Cointelegraph repeating the same move.

The Celsius sentencing developments are described alongside a separate SDNY dispute involving former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, with multiple sources tying the timing of Cohen-Pavon’s case to that other proceeding.

Cryptonews.net says the sentencing hearing “will come after another SDNY federal judge denied former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial,” and it reports that Bankman-Fried asked for a new trial by claiming that the judge overseeing his 2023 trial, Lewis Kaplan, showed “manifest prejudice” during the proceedings.

Cointelegraph

Cointelegraph similarly states that the sentencing hearing “will come after another SDNY federal judge denied former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial,” and it repeats that Bankman-Fried, also known as SBF, asked for a new trial by claiming Kaplan showed “manifest prejudice.”

Financial-News.co.uk adds that Bankman-Fried “still awaits the results of a motion to overturn his conviction and sentence in appellate court,” and it frames the denial of a new trial as “last week” in relation to the Celsius sentencing request.

The Bitget page does not focus on Bankman-Fried’s motion, but it does describe the Celsius sentencing hearing postponement and the prosecutors’ request for leniency.

In the Cryptonews.net account, the Celsius sentencing is expected to wrap up criminal cases associated with Celsius, and it places that closure after the Bankman-Fried decision.

Taken together, the reporting portrays a sequence in which Cohen-Pavon’s sentencing is pending before Judge John Koeltl on May 13, while Bankman-Fried’s post-trial efforts continue through appellate review.

The next step in the Celsius case is the sentencing hearing for Cohen-Pavon, which multiple sources place on May 13 after Judge John Koeltl moved it from May 7.

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Bitget

Prosecutors are asking the judge to apply an “appropriate sentencing reduction” based on Cohen-Pavon’s “substantial assistance,” while the government letter stops short of naming a specific prison term.

Cryptonews.net

Cryptonews.net reports that prosecutors “did not request a specific amount of time for the former chief revenue officer to spend in prison,” and Financial-News.co.uk similarly says the government recommended deferring to sentencing guidelines for an “appropriate reduction.”

Cohen-Pavon’s defense, as described by Cryptonews.net and Cointelegraph, is seeking time served, with Cryptonews.net quoting that his lawyers asked for time served and said he took “full responsibility for his conduct and the harms caused by his participation in the CEL token manipulation scheme.”

Cointelegraph repeats that defense position and ties it to the CEL token manipulation scheme.

Bitget reports that Cohen-Pavon’s lawyer argued for “time served,” while the prosecutor asked for a “significant reduction,” framing the dispute as one of how much credit cooperation should receive.

Financial-News.co.uk adds that the government “has not opposed time served, but left the final decision to the judge’s interpretation of the guidelines,” and it states that sentencing is set for 13 May.