Caroline Ellison

Caroline Ellison (born November 1994) is an American former business executive who pleaded guilty to fraud in 2023 in relation to the bankruptcy of FTX. She was the CEO of Alameda Research, a trading firm affiliated with FTX and founded by Sam Bankman-Fried. Ellison was terminated from her position after FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy. In 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. She served 14 months in federal custody and was released in January 2026. 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 Bankman-Fried "very, very substantial" but said prison time was necessary due to the magnitude of the crime. 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.