Caroline Ellison, Star Witness at FTX Trial, Is Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison
The New York Times
A top adviser to Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of FTX, Ms. Ellison pleaded guilty to conspiring with him to steal $8 billion and became a crucial witness for the prosecution.
Caroline Ellison, a former top adviser to the cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday for her role in the $8 billion fraud that led to the implosion of the once high-flying FTX crypto exchange.
Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of U.S. District Court in Manhattan said that he believed Ms. Ellison was genuinely remorseful and that her cooperation with the government had been substantial. But given the severity of the fraud, he added, he could not give her a “‘get out of jail free’ card.”
Ms. Ellison is set to report to a minimum security prison in the Boston area by around Nov. 7, almost exactly two years after FTX collapsed.
Soon after the downfall of FTX in 2022, Ms. Ellison, who was Mr. Bankman-Fried’s on-and-off girlfriend, pleaded guilty to conspiring with him to steal $8 billion in savings that customers had deposited on the exchange. She became a crucial witness for the prosecution, testifying against Mr. Bankman-Fried at a trial last year that ended in his conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Wearing a dark jacket over a mauve-colored dress, Ms. Ellison, 29, fought back tears as she told Judge Kaplan that she was sorry for all the pain she had caused to the customers and employees of FTX, as well as her family and friends.
“Not a day goes by that I don’t think of the people I hurt,” Ms. Ellison said before she was sentenced, with her parents and two sisters in the courtroom. “I am deeply ashamed of what I have done.”
