Attorneys with the United States Department of Justice have extra time to make discovery and give former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky’s defense team time to review related documents.
In a July 25 order, U.S. District Judge John Koeltl said he would exclude the time between July 25 and Oct. 3 from Speedy Trial Act calculations — the law which requires a federal criminal trial to begin within 70 days of an indictment being filed. He cited the “volume of discovery” as well as the “complexity of the case” against the former Celsius CEO.
“The Court finds that the ends of justice served by granting the continuance outweigh the best interest of the defendant and the public in a speedy trial,” said Koeltl.
The law requires prosecutors to largely disclose any information “favorable to an accused” that is “material either to guilt or to punishment” to Mashinsky’s legal team. The Oct. 3 conference will place Mashinsky in a New York courtroom just one day after the start of the trial against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who has been charged in the same district.
Celsius filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July 2022, weeks after the platform announced it would pause all withdrawals without providing a definitive timeline for their return. Mashinsky resigned as CEO in September 2022.
U.S. authorities charged and arrested Mashinsky on July 13 with securities fraud, commodities fraud and wire fraud related to allegedly defrauding customers and misleading them about certain information on Celsius’ business practices. The former Celsius CEO has pleaded not guilty to all charges and has been released on a $40 million bond.
The judge has yet to set a trial date for the former Celsius CEO’s criminal case. The fraud charges came in parallel to a complaint filed by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission against Mashinsky. The Securities and Exchange Commission has also filed its own civil suit against the former CEO, while the Federal Trade Commission announced it had issued a $4.7 billion fine to Celsius in July.
Canterbury MP Rosie Duffield has resigned from the Labour Party.
The 53-year-old MP is the first to jump ship since the general election and in her resignation letter criticised the prime minister for accepting thousands of pounds worth of gifts.
She told Sir Keir Starmer the reason for leaving now is “the programme of policies you seem determined to stick to”, despite their unpopularity with the electorate and MPs.
In her letter she accused the prime minister and his top team of “sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice” which are “off the scale”.
“I’m so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party,” she said.
Since December 2019, the prime minister received £107,145 in gifts, benefits, and hospitality – a specific category in parliament’s register of MPs’ interests.
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Ms Duffield, who has previously clashed with the prime minister on gender issues, attacked the government for pursuing “cruel and unnecessary” policies as she resigned the Labour whip.
She criticised the decision to keep the two-child benefit cap and means-test the winter fuel payment, and accused the prime minister of “hypocrisy” over his acceptance of free gifts from donors.
“Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous,” she said.
“I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear.”
Ms Duffield also mentioned the recent “treatment of Diane Abbott”, who said she thought she had been barred from standing by Labour ahead of the general election, before Sir Keir said she would be allowed to defend her Hackney North and Stoke Newington seat for the party.
Her relationship with the Labour leadership has long been strained and her decision to quit the party comes after seven other Labour MPs were suspended for rebelling by voting for a motion calling for the two-child benefit cap to be abolished.
“Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservatives’ two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp – this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour prime minister,” she said.
Ms Duffield said she will continue to represent her constituents as an independent MP, “guided by my core Labour values”.