Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison Begins Two Year Prison Sentence

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Julia Smith

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Julia Smith

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Julia is an experienced editor with a passion for covering a wide variety of beats. She loves all things politics and regularly covers regulatory updates on emerging technology here for Crypto News.

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November 8, 2024 18:39 EST

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Former Alameda Research Caroline Ellison began her two-year prison sentence Thursday for her role in the FTX collapse, the Federal Bureau of Prisons revealed this week.

Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison Faces The Music

According to the federal agency, Ellison has started her sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Danbury, Connecticut.

During her September sentencing, Judge Lewis A. Kaplan further ordered the ex-girlfriend of disgraced crypto tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried to complete three years of supervised release upon her release from prison.

However, Kaplan praised the petite ex-crypto executive for her candor as a witness, saying he had “never seen” a witness quite like Ellison.

In addition, Ellison has been ordered to forfeit $11 billion for conspiring in the massive crypto scheme that saw an estimated $8 billion of FTX investor funds drained off the platform.

Ellison pled guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering, securities fraud, commodities fraud, wire fraud, and wire fraud in December 2022.

In total, Ellison faced 110 years behind bars – though her cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors granted her a more lenient sentence than FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who received 25 years in prison.

Crypto Execs Sentenced For FTX Collapse

Ellison’s two-year stint in federal prison has raised eyebrows among certain members of the crypto community, most notably former FTX Digital Markets CEO Ryan Salame.

Salame, who is currently serving a year sentence for violating campaign finance laws and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business, vocally criticized Ellison’s sentencing before he began his prison time at a federal correctional institution in Maryland last month.

“I’m currently 5 pages deep of writing on analyzing Caroline’s testimony and writing on things I know Caroline lied about or misrepresented on the stand and I’m wondering the best way to share it,” he said in a recent X post.

“My mistake, (I) should have stolen everyone’s money so I could go to jail for substantially less time,” he wrote in another post on the Elon Musk-led platform.

Meanwhile, FTX’s former director of engineering, Nishad Singh, was sentenced to time served and three years of supervised release last month, making him the fourth exec of the doomed crypto operation to be sentenced.

Co-founder and CTO of FTX, Gary Wang, is slated to be sentenced on November 20.