Celsius & Ionic Creditors: Ionic Is Hiring for IPO, Mashinsky Banned for Life & More

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hey guys, what's going on? Aaron here.

[00:00:01]Welcome to the video. So, Ionic Digital Celsius Network customers, victims. We got some updates. Uh, there are two new people that joined Ionic Digital. I want to cover that in this video. I also want to touch on what is going on with Mashinsk's trial. basically all the updates with that including how much money he has to pay and what's going on with Rooney Cohen Pavon his sentencing is coming up as well. So let me just dive in with Ionic. So this came out 11 hours ago. It says Ionic welcomes Chris Hickman as their new CFO and Richard Carson as general counsel. So I just want to cover a few things uh from this announcement. We have Michael Abbate saying that Andy Stewart, the CEO, continues to make strong moves. Welcome Chris and Richard to the team. So, right here, let me dive in. Who they are, what's going on, then obviously talking about Mashinsky, what's going on with him. First, real quick though, if you are an FTX creditor, FTXcredititor.com, that is the place to go to sell your claim. They have been a partner of the channel for a while. And if you are an FTX claim holder, I would highly recommend going to FTX Creditor and clicking sell your claim and then basically you'll get a quote within 12 hours. Right now, there is no marketplace for Ionic digital shares. If Louis and his team is able to buy them or wants to buy them in the future, I will definitely let you know. I'll get him on the channel and he can talk about it himself. So again, ftxredititor.com if you are an FTX claim holder. Also, if you got stuck in the link to uh bankruptcy as well, they are also buying link to claims as well. So, I'll include the link to that below and also to Louis profile. All right. So, take a look right here. Uh we have again Chris and Richard joining. So it says here with the addition of these two powerhouse industry leaders with more than 50 years of combined experience across finance and law Ioni has solidified its core executive team further strengthening the company's ability to deliver the high performance infrastructure and power certainty required for demanding AI landscape. So from the CEO Andy he says Chris and Richard bring the precise expertise Ioni requires at this pivotal stage of our growth. Chris's deep background in energy, infrastructure, and capital markets, paired with Richard's extensive experience in corporate governance, provides the leadership foundation necessary to scale our platform and execute our public market strategy, aka getting listed, with the highest level of accountability. We have never been better positioned to deliver on our mission of providing the power ready infrastructure and speed to market that the AI economy demands. So, just quickly go over this. Uh Chris has 20 years experience in finance across the digital infrastructure and energy sectors. He served as CEO and CFO of Tilman Infrastructure. He also held senior leadership roles at Crown Castle.

[00:03:03]Earlier in his career, he held senior finance, strategy, and corporate development roles at Noble Energy. So, there's a lot going on here. I'm not going to read all of it for you guys.

[00:03:11]And Richard, the other individual that just joined the team, brings more than 30 years of legal and executive experience to his role as general counsel. His expertise encompasses commercial transactions, M&A, and regulatory compliance. So, these guys have a lot of experience. And right here, complimenting its leadership team expansion, Ioni is also unveiling a redesigned website like I showed in my last video to you guys about Ionic and brand presence to reflect its strategic evolution. So again, nothing about Bitcoin, nothing about Bitcoin mining.

[00:03:43]That whole narrative is is basically over. So we have four new team members at Ionic over the last month. So I believe this is very good. These people have a lot of experience. We made the pivot to AI and that is something that I think was a very very good idea. Just like I shared in my last video about IonX pivot, just how well exit mining companies are doing and have done when they pivot to AI. For example, Terra Wolf over the last year up 685%.

[00:04:14]It's It's insane. Year-to- date up 84%.

[00:04:18]So, what I'm hoping is that the market stays really strong for AI and power demands. I think it's only going to get more intensive and we're able to get liquidity so we can buy more shares of Ionic if we want to or like a lot of people want to do is just sell your shares which I hope happens very very soon. And again, if FTX Creditor is buying shares, I will definitely be the first person to let you know. So, make sure to subscribe because I will make a video about that immediately. So, let's talk about Mashinsky. So, the first thing on March 31st, he decided to discharge the firm and his attorneys from their representation of him. And yeah, so he is going prosay. Basically, he will represent himself moving forward. Who knows why he did decide to do that though? So right here though, uh we have Mashinsky agreed to the US Federal Trade Commission, the FTC, in a settlement that permanently bars him from promoting asset related products and requires a $10 million payment tied to a broader, mostly suspended $4.72 billion judgment. This stipulation order said Mashinsky is quote perpermanently restrained and enjoined end quote from advertising, marketing, promoting, offering or distributing any product or service that could be used to quote deposit, exchange, invest, or withdraw assets end quote. So he can't you know touch anything in the financial markets basically which is a normal thing that happens when someone gets in trouble legally uh in a realm like finance or crypto or you know money laundering or wire fraud. This is a very common thing.

[00:06:03]So again right here uh this judgment for $4.72 billion but he's ordered to pay 10 million. Now to my knowledge uh this is not going directly to creditors. This is going to the FTC. So, kind of annoying, but nonetheless, it's going to be okay.

[00:06:20]Uh, right here we have Rooney Cohen Pavan. You may have forgot that name, but he was the only other individual in the Celsius bankruptcy that got criminally charged. Um, right here, his team put a 38page document together on how they want him to be sentenced. Now, I did cheat and use Claude to summarize it because I'm not going to read 38 pages for you guys. No offense. So, let me just break down what it said. So, his defense team is asking for in the sentencing that no additional time should be served, right? No prison time.

[00:06:55]They said that Rooney already plead guilty to four counts related to manipulating the price of Celsius's cell token. His lawyers and probation department are both recommending time served, meaning he walks out without additional incarceration. So, their arguments, he already cooperated fully and immediately. So when indicted in July of 23, he waved extradition from Israel, self-surrendered, and signed a cooperation agreement. His testimony helped the government's case against Mashinsky, who ultimately got 12 years.

[00:07:24]Next, he didn't initiate the scheme. He said he joined the cell manipulation in its later stages, summer of 2021, under heavy pressure from Mashinsky and repeatedly tried to slow it down and stop it. This is what his legal team is saying. The memo is filled with internal messages showing him pushing back on Mashinsky. Next, he actively tried to reduce harm. So, by early 2022, he had substantially cut Celsius's excess cell purchases and implemented a more disciplined process, but his team says Mashinsky still went around him. Next, they say he's a good person outside of all this. says, "The bulk of the document is character letters from a rabbi, injured IDF, Israeli Defense Forces soldiers he mentored, colleagues, and friends, all painting him as a deeply generous, community-minded guy.

[00:08:16]And lastly, he's already suffered enough. His career is destroyed. He's facing civil suits. He lost his own money in Celsius's collapse. And he has a pregnant wife and two daughters at home. So bottom line, his legal team is arguing this was an outof character mistake. driven by loyalty to Mashinsky and a misguided belief he could fix things from the inside, not personal greed. And that mercy is warranted given his cooperation, character, and the punishment he's already endured. All right, so that is from his team. I mean, before Mashinsky got sentenced, there was a similar uh document as well provided to the judge and to the court.

[00:08:54]Same with SPF, Sam Bakeman Freed. So, we'll see what happens. I mean, he was a big part of Celsius and you know, in a lot of the examiners reports that came out many, many years ago, uh, he was a big part of basically what went down.

[00:09:10]So, we will see what happens there.

[00:09:12]Ultimately, I think most people watching this, myself included, we're kind of past that part of it. You know, Mashinsky has 12 years in prison.

[00:09:21]Hopefully, we're going to see a good pivot for Ionic where we can get liquidity and sell if you want to sell.

[00:09:27]And really, that's the main thing that we want right now is to have these Ionic shares do really, really well. That's the biggest way that people can be made uh whole on their claim and possibly even more than whole, right? So, if these shares are worth a lot more than $20, we'll be made more than whole on our claim amount most likely. Uh but yeah, not in terms of if you had Bitcoin. That's a whole different uh calculation as you guys know. So, yeah, that is it for the video. Hope you're doing well. If you are in the FTX bankruptcy, I highly recommend selling your claim or at least considering selling your claim by going to ftxcredititor.com.

[00:10:06]Hope you guys are doing well. Till next time, talk with you soon and bye for