On-Chain, In Court: What happened in crypto legal news this week

Celsius criminal cases officially closed on Thursday

After the sentencing of Celsius’ former chief revenue officer Roni Cohen-Pavon to time served in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York last week, the legal proceedings in the case were officially concluded. As of Thursday, the SDNY docket showed the criminal cases against Cohen-Pavon and former Celsius CEO Alex Mashinsky were closed.

The end of criminal cases involving the crypto lending company’s 2022 collapse was a milestone for many users who lost a combined $5 billion. Mashinsky pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 12 years in prison for his role in fraud and price manipulation, while the US government said that ​​Cohen-Pavon provided “substantial assistance” in the case, likely leading to a lenient sentence.

Tron founder voluntarily dismisses lawsuit over his financial details

On Monday, Tron founder Justin Sun moved to dismiss his lawsuit against Bloomberg without prejudice, which resulted in the termination of the case on Tuesday. Sun sued the news outlet in August 2025, alleging that Bloomberg publicly disclosed “proprietary financial information, particularly related to his cryptocurrency holdings.”

Source: Courtlistener

The complaint stemmed from Bloomberg reaching out to Sun’s team in February 2025 to gather information about the Tron founder’s wealth for its Billionaires Index. Bloomberg published estimates of Sun’s crypto holdings, which he claimed would put him at risk of kidnapping, phishing and other threats.

The voluntary dismissal came after months of inactivity on the public docket in the case.

Sun also has an ongoing lawsuit filed by the Trump family-backed crypto company World Liberty Financial, which alleged defamation against the Tron founder for making false public statements. He sued the crypto company in April, alleging World Liberty froze his WLFI tokens and threatened to burn them “without any proper justification.”

‘AI16Z DAO’ case goes before federal judge

An AI project was under scrutiny in a New York courtroom on Tuesday as part of a class-action lawsuit filed in April. The suit, filed against the development team Eliza Labs, its founder Shaw Walters, Sebastian Quinn-Watson and the AI16z DAO, alleged that the parties engaged in market manipulation over the AI16Z token, which was later rebranded to ELIZAOS on the Solana blockchain.

The AI16Z project had no official affiliation with Andreessen Horowitz and the lawsuit alleged that the parties engaged in “deceptive acts” by using the company’s name, resulting in the token’s market capitalization surging to $2.6 billion in January 2025 before “large holders began liquidating.” Chris Dixon of a16z Crypto said in a January 2025 podcast that the company had demanded the project change its name due to brand confusion.

Tuesday’s initial pretrial conference resulted in Judge Jed Rakoff questioning why Walters had not been served, and defense counsel saying getting Quinn-Watson to court could “take months” as he’s a resident of Australia. All defendants have consented to a bench trial, expected to begin five months after the judge decides on a motion to dismiss.