Caroline Ellison, who was co-chief executive of Alameda Research, an FTX-aligned hedge fund, faces sentencing as she pleaded guilty to multiple charges related to helping siphon billions of dollars in what has been called one of the largest financial frauds in American history. File Photo by Peter Foley/EPA-EFE
Sept. 24 (UPI) — Caroline Ellison, a key government witness in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, will face sentencing Tuesday with the possibility of a lighter punishment than the one given to FTX co-founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, experts say.
Ellison, who had been co-chief executive of Alameda Research, an FTX-aligned hedge fund, was charged with helping siphon billions of dollars in what has been called one of the largest financial frauds in American history.
She pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The wire fraud and money laundering charges each carried a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison, while the other charges carry a maximum sentence of five years each.
In March, Sam Bankman-Fried, Ellison’s former business associate and ex-boyfriend, was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion after he was convicted in November of the exact same charges, as FTX revealed its intent to file bankruptcy.
Eillson’s legal defense asked for a light sentence, contending that she “unflinchingly acknowledged her own wrongdoing, without minimization, blame shifting or self-pity” when she took a December 2022 plea deal.
Federal prosecutors agreed Ellison provided “extraordinary cooperation” over three days of testimony “that was crucial” to securing a conviction against Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried, 32, has denied the charges and since filed an appeal to overturn his conviction.
Legal experts including former federal prosecutors and trial attorneys told CNBC they agree that Ellison is likely to walk away without any jail time at all.
Initially, prosecutors for Bankman-Fried called for 40 to 50 years in prison, saying FTX customers lost a total of $8 billion, while FTX equity investors lost more than $1 billion.
Lenders to Alameda, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, had lost more than $1 billion.
Prosecutors pointed out Bankman-Fried’s victims include people who deposited their retirement funds with his company and people who lost their entire life savings.
Bankman-Fried, they said, “victimized tens of thousands of people and companies, across several continents, over a period of multiple years.”
And at the center of it was Ellison, who had what was characterized by her lawyer as a “complex” and “sometimes-secret” relationship with Bankman-Fried that was “on-again-off-again.”
Bankman-Fried, her attorney argued, had “warped” her moral compass which led her to take steps for him “that she knew to be wrong, helping him steal billions.”
He appeared in a Manhattan court where Kaplan also delivered his sentence as he will do Tuesday for Ellison. Kaplan ultimately decided the 40-50 years prosecutors had recommended for Bankman-Fried was too harsh.
The prosecution declined to make a specific sentencing recommendation for Ellison. But the U.S. legal system historically tends to favor reduced sentences for those who assist in bringing down higher targets, experts argued.
Prosecutors also agreed that although Ellison “did not blow the whistle” on FTX misconduct before its devastating collapse, she did come clean “prior to FTX’s declaring bankruptcy to her employees on No. 9, 2022.”
“Ellison approached her cooperation with remarkable candor, remorse, and seriousness,” prosecutor Danielle Sassoon wrote in a letter to Kaplan.
The defense team had been making efforts to distance her from the ex-FTX chief
“Caroline poses no risk of recidivism and presents no threat to public safety. It would therefore promote respect for the law to grant leniency in recognition of Caroline’s early disclosure of the crimes, her unmitigated acceptance of responsibility for them,” defense attorney Anjan Sahni wrote Kaplan.
“And, most importantly, her extensive cooperation with the government.”