Former crypto executive jailed for participating in ‘biggest financial scam of all time’

Wednesday, September 25, 2024 - A former top executive of fraudulent cryptocurrency empire FTX has been jailed for two years after apologising for her role in one of the biggest financial scams of all time.

Caroline Ellison, 30, was the CEO of Alameda Research and former romantic partner of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison for scamming customers and investors out of billions of dollars in cryptocurrency.

Ellison, who turned on Bankman-Fried and served as the case’s star witness, was commended for her cooperation in the case by US District Judge Lewis A Kaplan, who said her testimony was “very, very substantial” and showed no inconsistencies with the prosecutor’s case. But he said a prison sentence was necessary because she had participated in what might be the “greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country and probably anywhere else” or at least close to it.

He said in such a serious case, he could not let cooperation be a get-out-of-jail-free card.

“I’ve seen a lot of co-operators in 30 years here. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms Ellison,” he said.

She was ordered to report to prison on November 7.

Ellison pleaded guilty nearly two years ago and gave evidence against Bankman-Fried for nearly three days at a trial last November. At sentencing, she emotionally apologised to anyone hurt by the fraud that stretched from 2017 to 2022.

“I’m deeply ashamed of what I’ve done,” she said, adding that she was “so so sorry” to everyone she had harmed directly or indirectly.

In a court filing, prosecutors said her testimony was the “cornerstone of the trial” against Bankman-Fried, 32, who was found guilty of fraud and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Asking the court for a lighter sentence, Ellison’s lawyers cited both her evidence at the trial and the trauma of her off-and-on romantic relationship with Bankman-Fried, but they also stressed that she was not trying to evade responsibility for her crimes.

“Caroline blames no one but herself for what she did,” her lawyers wrote in a court filing. “She regrets her role deeply and will carry shame and remorse to her grave.”

FTX was one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, known for its Superbowl TV ad and its extensive lobbying campaign in Washington before it collapsed in 2022. US prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried and other top executives of looting customer accounts on the exchange to make risky investments, make millions of dollars of illegal political donations, bribe Chinese officials and buy luxury real estate in the Caribbean.

Ellison was chief executive at Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency hedge fund controlled by Bankman-Fried that was used to process some customer funds from FTX. Her work relationship with Bankman-Fried was complicated by her romantic feelings for him, her lawyers wrote in a court filing.

“From the start, Mr Bankman-Fried’s behaviour was erratic and manipulative,” her lawyers said. "He initially professed strong feelings for Caroline and suggested their liaison would develop into a full relationship.

“But after a few weeks, he would ‘ghost’ Caroline without explanation, avoiding her outside of work and refusing to respond to messages that were not work-related.”

As the business began to falter, Ellison divulged the massive fraud to employees who worked for her even before FTX filed for bankruptcy, her lawyers wrote.

Ultimately, she also spoke extensively with US investigators.

“Ellison co-operated at great personal and professional cost, enduring harsh media and public scrutiny and attempted witness tampering by Bankman-Fried,” prosecutors wrote.

They said she was forthcoming about her own misconduct and was “uniquely positioned to explain not only the what and how of Bankman-Fried’s crimes, but also the why.”

Since testifying at Bankman-Fried’s trial, Ellison has engaged in extensive charity work, written a novel and worked with her parents on a maths enrichment textbook for advanced high school students, according to her lawyers. They said she also now has a healthy romantic relationship and has reconnected with high school friends she had lost touch with while she worked for and sometimes dated Bankman-Fried from 2017 until late 2022.