Former Celsius chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon, who pleaded guilty to criminal charges in 2023 and has been free on bail, has permission to travel to Singapore, ostensibly in order to attend the Token2049 conference.
In a Sept. 13 filing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), Judge John Koeltl granted Cohen-Pavon permission to travel from Israel to Singapore from Sept. 16 to 20 “for business purposes.” Cohen-Pavon, part of the same criminal indictment as former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky, allegedly earned roughly $3.6 million in profits from the sales of CEL tokens by helping artificially inflate the price.
“Mr. Cohen-Pavon’s conditions of release permit him to travel within Israel, the Southern District of New York, the Eastern District of New York [EDNY], and points in between for purposes of travel to the Southern District of New York,” said the court docket. “We write on Mr. Cohen-Pavon’s behalf to request permission for travel from Israel to Singapore on September 16, 2024 through September 20, 2024 for business purposes, including a layover in Bangkok, Thailand, as there are no direct flights between Israel and Singapore.”
Source: SDNY
US authorities announced fraud charges against Mashinsky and Cohen-Pavon in July 2023 related to misleading users at the crypto lending platform. Mashinsky, who resigned as CEO in September 2022 and allegedly earned roughly $42 million in profits from CEL sales, was arrested the same day.
Cohen-Pavon, who was reportedly not in the US when the indictment was filed, was arrested in September 2023. He initially pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit price manipulation, securities fraud, manipulation of security prices and wire fraud, later changing his plea to guilty.
The former Celsius executive was released on a $500,000 bond, with travel restricted to SDNY, EDNY, Israel, “and points in between.” Mashinsky pleaded not guilty and is scheduled for trial in January 2025. Cohen-Pavon will face a sentencing hearing on Dec. 11.
Why Token2049?
As CEO of Celsius, Mashinsky attended the Token2049 crypto conference in Hong Kong in 2019 and London in 2021. The former CEO is also largely restricted to traveling within SDNY and EDNY until the conclusion of his criminal case.
Related: Celsius sues Tether, seeking $3.5B over Bitcoin collateral sell-off
Cohen-Pavon previously requested permission from a judge to travel to Tokyo in June 2024. Though none of the court filings explicitly mention Token2049, the timing of the September travel request could suggest the former chief revenue officer plans to attend the crypto conference. Cointelegraph contacted Cohen-Pavon’s legal counsel for comment but did not receive a response at the time of publication.
Mashinsky seeks witnesses
Cohen-Pavon’s travel request came the same weekend Mashinsky’s lawyers made their first public filing in more than four months. According to a Sept. 14 filing, the former Celsius CEO seeks “to preserve the testimony of six material witnesses who reside outside the United States,” including Cohen-Pavon.
Mashinsky’s lawyers alleged five of the six witnesses they plan on calling “ignored or disregarded [his] explicit instructions to generate revenue by consistently selling CEL tokens into the market and instead purchased excess CEL tokens on the FTX exchange throughout 2021.” They asked for the opportunity to question the witnesses and parties with knowledge of the alleged instructions.
“The stakes are high,” said the Sept. 14 memo. “The government has informed the defense that its ‘current position’ is that the Sentencing Guidelines call for Mr. Mashinsky to receive a sentence of 115 years in prison.”
Celsius filed for bankruptcy protection in the US in July 2022 but began repaying creditors in August 2024. The company also has civil cases pending with the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission and Securities and Exchange Commission.
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