Federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York are asking a court to deny former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky’s attempt to vacate his conviction and 12-year prison sentence, arguing that his claims lack merit and do not justify a hearing. In a Friday filing, SDNY Attorney James McDonald and Assistant US Attorney Allison Nichols pushed back on Mashinsky’s allegations, including his claim that he received ineffective assistance of counsel. Mashinsky, who told the court in May that he would proceed pro se, has been trying to overturn the conviction tied to fraud and market manipulation at the now-bankrupt crypto lender Celsius. Mashinsky was sentenced in May 2025 to 144 months in prison after pleading guilty to commodities fraud and securities fraud involving what prosecutors described as manipulative and deceptive conduct at Celsius. His former colleague, ex-chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon, was sentenced to time served after providing what the government called substantial assistance. Mashinsky was also ordered to forfeit $48 million and agreed to pay $10 million in a separate settlement with the US Federal Trade Commission. Separate regulatory matters remain active: the Commodity Futures Trading Commission permanently banned him from covered commodities markets in June, while the Securities and Exchange Commission said on July 30 that settlement talks in its civil case against him were ongoing.

Six months after Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores were taken to New York following a Jan. 3 U.S. military raid in Caracas, the case remains stuck in pretrial procedure. Judge Alvin Hellerstein of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York has set June 1, 2027, as the trial date, meaning the couple will have spent more than 500 days in U.S. custody by the time proceedings begin. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have brought four felony charges against Maduro, centered on narco-terrorism conspiracy and conspiracy to import cocaine into the United States. Flores faces related charges that include drug importation as well as possession of a machine gun and destructive devices. Both have pleaded not guilty. Maduro’s legal team, led by Barry Pollack, is expected to focus first on jurisdiction rather than the underlying allegations. The defense plans to seek dismissal on head-of-state immunity grounds and also to challenge the legality of the arrest operation itself. Briefing on the first dismissal motion is due Sept. 2, with oral arguments expected in November. While the indictment does not mention crypto, stablecoins, wallets, exchanges, or on-chain transfers, the wider Venezuelan backdrop still runs through digital assets. Chainalysis put the country’s crypto transaction volume at $44.6 billion between July 2024 and June 2025, while a Wall Street Journal-cited estimate said about 80% of Venezuela’s oil revenue, or roughly $12 billion a year, was settled in USDT by late 2025 to early 2026.

The U.S. Marshals Service liquidated $6.3 million worth of forfeited bitcoin from Samourai Wallet developers, possibly breaching Executive Order 14233 on the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. Senator Lummis raised alarms; SDNY’s long record of ignoring federal crypto guidance draws renewed scrutiny.

Senator Lummis criticizes the DOJ for selling 57.55 BTC seized from Samourai Wallet developers, calling it a violation of Executive Order 14233. The market remains stable with BTC at $93,299 and total crypto cap at $3.26 trillion.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleges Axiom Exchange employee Broox Bauer has been tracking private user wallets via internal dashboards since early 2025. The platform's lax access controls raise serious insider trading concerns.

Jay Clayton will serve as interim U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York after his nomination was blocked by Chuck Schumer, setting off a dispute over qualifications, politics, and the future direction of a key federal office.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the government will keep suspending sales of seized Bitcoin and add forfeited BTC to the national digital asset reserve, while broader budget-neutral acquisition plans remain unclear.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said seized Bitcoin will be retained and added to the national digital asset reserve rather than sold, reinforcing the current US approach to expanding its strategic Bitcoin reserve through forfeited assets.