The former CEO of the cryptocurrency firm Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, was sentenced on Tuesday (September 24) to 24 months in prison for her role in one of the largest financial fraud cases in history.
Ellison is the former girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried and was a key prosecution witness in the trial which saw the founder of crypto exchange FTX sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Along with her role at Alameda Research, she was a business partner to Bankman-Fried and a top executive at FTX. She pleaded guilty to seven charges, including fraud, shortly after the crypto exchange collapsed in 2022.
Prosecutors recommended a lenient sentence due to her “extraordinary” and “very timely” cooperation, with her lawyers asking for no jail time.
In a court filing on September 10, Ellison’s legal team submitted letters from friends, colleagues, and family members calling for leniency. They also recommended the 29-year-old be sentenced to time served with three years’ supervised release.
Judge praised cooperation at Caroline Ellison’s sentencing
“I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison,” said Judge Lewis Kaplan during the sentencing hearing, according to Bloomberg.
She was also described as having no inconsistencies within her testimony which was “very incriminating of herself and she pulled no punches about it.”
The Judge said “you are genuinely remorseful,” but noted that the fall of FTX was one of the “most serious” financial frauds ever committed. Kaplan said her cooperation cannot be a “get out of jail free card.”
The US Judge ordered Caroline Ellison to serve two years in prison and forfeit $11 billion on fraud and money laundering charges.
Later this fall, the sentencing of two other main cooperators in the case will take place. This includes FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former engineering chief Nishad Singh. The outcomes will be decided upon on October 30 and November 20, 2024.
Featured Image: AI-generated via Ideogram
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