Caroline Ellison, the former Alameda Research CEO who pleaded guilty to charges related to her role in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been transferred from the Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Danbury, Connecticut, where she spent the last few months serving a two-year sentence.
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons as of Wednesday, Ellison was in the Residential Reentry Management field office in New York, the first change in housing since she reported to FCI Danbury in November 2024.
The former Alameda CEO received a two-year sentence for her role in the FTX crash — one of the lighter sentences compared to that of the exchange’s CEO, Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years.
Prison officials allegedly transfer Ellison on Oct. 16, but did not reveal the reason for the move. According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons, she is scheduled to be released on February 20, about nine months before her sentence ends. The reason for the early release was not clear at the time of publication.
Ellison, along with Bankman-Fried and others, was charged in a high-profile criminal case involving the collapse of FTX in November 2022. Unlike the former FTX CEO, she and two of her colleagues pleaded guilty to the charges and testified at Bankman-Fried’s trial.
Another person charged in the debacle, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ryan Salame, accepted a plea deal, did not testify and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison.
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Who is Caroline Ellison?
A native of Boston, Ellison met SBF while they were both working at the Jane Street trading firm in 2016. At the invitation of Bankman-Fried, she joined Alameda in 2017, rising to become co-CEO of Sam Trabucco and then sole CEO of the firm in August 2022 after his departure.
When FTX collapsed in November 2022, Ellison, Bankman-Fried and others were charged with fraud and money laundering. The former Alameda CEO has largely stayed out of the public eye, unlike Bankman-Fried, who initially continued to post on social media after his arrest.
When Bankman-Fried was extradited to the US from the Bahamas, where FTX was headquartered, he was initially allowed to stay at his parents’ home in California, subject to travel restrictions. However, a judge revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail in August 2023 after Bankman-Fried allegedly leaked portions of Ellison’s diary to The New York Times.
After that incident, Ellison’s whereabouts were unknown to the public until she appeared in court to testify against SBF during his trial in October 2023. According to courtroom reports, she placed the blame for the misuse of FTX customer funds squarely on Bankman-Fried, claiming that he “set up the systems” that led to Alameda taking $14 billion from the company.
The subject of public scrutiny, ridiculed on the Internet
Along with Bankman-Fried, Ellison was probably the most prominent public figure associated with the FTX debacle. She was heavily criticized in the crypto community for her role in the stock market collapse, as well as her relationship with SBF, with whom she briefly dated.
“While public scrutiny of a defendant’s or associates’ criminal behavior is understandable, Ellison endured much more than that,” prosecutors said in a September 2024 sentencing recommendation. “Outside the courthouse, she was attacked for comments and photos, making it difficult to enter and exit unaccompanied, her physical appearance was scrutinized and criticized, and she was mocked in memes and other social media content.”
With her release from federal custody pending, Ellison’s time with FTX and Bankman-Fried is likely to be thrust back into the spotlight with the anticipated release of “The Altruists,” a Netflix series that explores the lives of SBF and Ellison amid the stock market collapse. Actress Julia Garner will play Ellison in the miniseries.
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