Caroline Ellison

Caroline Ellison (born 1994) is an American former business executive and quantitative trader who was the CEO of Alameda Research, the trading firm affiliated with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX and founded by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. In 2022, she pleaded guilty to fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy charges related to her role at Alameda Research.

According to an anonymous source cited by ''The Wall Street Journal'' in November 2022, Alameda Research owed $10 billion to FTX. The source said FTX had lent the trading firm money from customer funds at FTX.

Ellison was terminated from her position after FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy. In December 2022, Ellison pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. On September 24, 2024, Ellison, a key government witness in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the scandal, which was one of the biggest in the history of the United States. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan called Ellison’s cooperation in the case against SBF "very, very substantial", but said prison time was necessary due to the magnitude of the crime. Provided by Wikipedia