Katherine Ross

Roni Cohen-Pavon, former chief revenue officer at Celsius, pled guilty to four charges according to multiple reports on Thursday.



Bloomberg reported that the charges included fraud, securities price manipulation and conspiracy. His sentencing is set for December 2024, and he has a chance of leniency depending on his cooperation in the case against his former boss, Alex Mashinsky.&nbsp;



Cohen-Pavon and former CEO Mashinsky are accused of inflating “the price of Celsius’s proprietary token, CEL,” in a July Department of Justice indictment.



The DOJ <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/us-sues-alex-mashinsky">claims that both Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon</a> discussed artificially inflating Celsius (<a href="https://blockworks.co/price/cel">CEL</a>) in WhatsApp messages.



“We’re not just sitting and watching the price. We’re on it all week and even now [another Celsius executive] and I are live with the market maker. The issue is that people are selling and no one is buying except for us,” Mashinsky allegedly said.



Cohen-Pavon is named as a co-defendant in the DOJ’s suit against <a href="https://blockworks.co/tag/alex-mashinsky">Mashinsky</a>, who also stands accused of defrauding investors. He faces a suit from the Federal Trade Commission as well as the DOJ.



An <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/doj-freezes-mashinsky-assets">unsealed order in September</a> showed that prosecutors froze Mashinsky’s assets in August.



Mashinsky’s lawyers <a href="https://blockworks.co/news/mashinsky-files-dismissal-ftc">filed a motion to dismiss the FTC suit</a> on Tuesday, Sept. 12, claiming that the FTC does not “allege a violation of an FTC rule.”



However, lawyers for his co-defendant Hanoch Goldstein said, “Mashinsky was responsible for leading almost all of the acts of misconduct alleged in the Complaint, including conducting weekly marketing and advertising videos called ‘Ask Mashinsky Anything.”



Mashinsky’s legal team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Cohen-Pavon’s plea.



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Ex-Celsius executive pleads guilty to four charges

Jacquelyn Melinek

<div id="highlights-block_621557c086517" class="highlights">
 <ul>
 <li>Rod Bolger has over 25 years of experience in traditional financial institutions from other industry players like Bank of America, Citigroup and PwC</li>
 <li>Celsius has over $8.2 billion in loans processed, over $18.9 billion in assets and about two million community members as of Feb. 18</li>
 </ul>
 
</div>



Cryptocurrency lender Celsius has tapped a Royal Bank of Canada alum as its new chief financial officer, the company’s CEO Alex Mashinsky told Blockworks.



Rod Bolger previously held the same title at the Canadian bank, one of the country’s largest. He has over 25 years of experience in traditional finance, with resume stints including Bank of America, Citigroup and PwC.



<div class="wp-block-image"><figure class="alignright size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="300" height="300" src="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-17763" srcset="https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=300 300w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=150 150w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=257 257w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=261 261w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=219 219w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=80 80w, https://blockworks-co.imgix.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Rod-Bolger-celsius-cfo.jpg?w=50 50w" sizes="(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px" /><figcaption>Rod Bolger, Celsius CFO | Source: Celsius</figcaption></figure></div>



Bolger replaces Celsius’ Interim CFO Roni Cohen-Pavon, who will remain in his role as the company’s chief revenue officer. Cohen-Pavon stepped in after former CFO Yaron Shalem was suspended last year following his arrest in Israel on suspicion of money laundering, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/celsius-suspends-cfo-due-to-external-fraud-sexual-assault-investigation/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Mashinsky told Blockworks that Shalem has since been dismissed.



“[Shalem] was questioned by the police in relation to a matter that happened before he joined Celsius, so we suspended him. And since then, he’s no longer with the company,” Mashinsky said. “It’s not a good situation, but nothing he did had to do with Celsius, so there was no money missing or wrongdoing that occured at Celsius.”



Bolger is tasked with implementing controls to protect client assets and help the company expand globally.



&#8220;I am thrilled for the opportunity to join such a fast growing mission-based company such as Celsius,&#8221; Bolger said in a statement. “I feel fortunate to be able to bring my traditional finance and banking experience to help grow this visionary global company.&#8221;



This move adds to the ongoing trend of talent migrating from other industries, mainly finance, into crypto. This shift has been building for years and is expected to continue to accelerate, Blockworks <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/the-upside-is-huge-tradfi-talent-flocks-to-crypto/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



Bolger made over $4 million at RBC, according to <a href="https://www.erieri.com/executive/salary/rod-bolger-akvo" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">data</a> by the Economic Research Institute. He left the bank in September 2021 after five years. 



<blockquote class="wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow">“The fact that he wanted to jump into crypto is phenomenal,” Mashinsky said. It’s rare that high-paid executives at banks leave for crypto companies, but Bolger did, which speaks volumes to the crypto industry’s ability to attract talent, Mashinsky added. </blockquote>



“There are CFOs who do number-crunching, and there are CFOs who love creating businesses and, [Bolger] is doing the latter,” he said.



Celsius has over $8.2 billion in loans processed, over $18.9 billion in assets and about two million community members, as of Feb. 18, its website <a href="https://celsius.network/about-us" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">stated</a>. In November, the company expanded its Series B funding round from $400 million to an oversubscribed <a href="https://cms.blockworks.co/?s=celsius#:~:text=Celsius%20Expands%20its%20Series%20B%20From%20%24400M%20to%20Oversubscribed%20%24750M" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">$750 million</a>, marking one of the largest funding rounds in crypto history.



Celsius hopes that it can continue to “build that bridge from TradFi to crypto” alongside other crypto-focused companies by bringing in talent from both traditional finance and crypto, Mashinsky commented.



“We don’t want to take the worst habits from Wall Street, we want to bring the best ideas that help crypto…there are trillions of dollars [in traditional finance] that need to cross that bridge, and that’s what is at stake,” Mashinsky said.



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Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/empire">Subscribe to the Empire newsletter</a>.



Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/onthemargin">Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter</a>.



Get alpha directly in your inbox with the <a href="https://blockworks.co/newsletter/research">0xResearch newsletter</a> — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.



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