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Former FTX govt Caroline Ellison stated she deserves no jail time for her function in one of many largest monetary frauds in historical past and federal prosecutors appear inclined to agree.
Ellison’s attorneys urged Decide Lewis Kaplan to be lenient when he sentences her Tuesday afternoon, arguing Ellison “unflinchingly acknowledged her personal wrongdoing, with out minimization, blame shifting or self-pity.” They added, “She repeatedly proved herself an enormously credible and necessary cooperating witness” in opposition to her on again-off once more boyfriend, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Ellison testified for 3 days at Bankman-Fried’s trial that ended with a conviction on all seven counts: wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on FTX’s prospects; wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud on Alameda Analysis’s lenders; conspiracy to commit securities fraud on FTX’s buyers; conspiracy to commit commodities fraud on FTX’s prospects; and conspiracy to commit cash laundering.
Federal prosecutors agreed Ellison supplied “extraordinary cooperation that was essential to the Authorities’s profitable prosecution” of Bankman-Fried.
“Though she didn’t blow the whistle on any misconduct earlier than FTX’s collapse, she got here clear previous to FTX’s declaring chapter to her staff on November 9, 2022,” prosecutor Danielle Sassoon wrote in a letter to the decide. “Ellison approached her cooperation with exceptional candor, regret, and seriousness.”
Former crypto hedge fund Alameda Analysis CEO Caroline Ellison at Federal Courtroom in New York Metropolis, Oct. 10, 2023.
Cheney Orr/Reuters, FILE
Prosecutors declined to make a selected sentencing advice. Protection attorneys advised a sentence in keeping with a advice from probation officers of time served plus three years supervised launch.
“Caroline poses no danger of recidivism and presents no risk to public security. It might due to this fact promote respect for the legislation to grant leniency in recognition of Caroline’s early disclosure of the crimes, her unmitigated acceptance of duty for them, and—most significantly—her intensive cooperation with the federal government,” protection legal professional Anjan Sahni wrote in a letter to the decide.
Sahni outlined Ellison’s “complicated” relationship with Bankman-Fried that started when the 2 met at Jane Avenue Capital in 2015 when she was an intern and he was a junior dealer.
“Caroline moved across the globe at his course, first to Hong Kong and later the Bahamas” whereas working “lengthy, nerve-racking, Adderall-fueled hours,” Sahni stated.
“Caroline was in an on-again-off-again, sometimes-secret relationship with Mr. Bankman-Fried that she understood on the time was essentially unequal. Deeply sad, Caroline repeatedly thought of leaving Alameda, however Mr. Bankman-Fried satisfied her to remain, telling her she was important to the survival of the enterprise, and that he beloved her (whereas additionally perversely demonstrating that he thought of her not adequate to be seen in public with him at high-profile occasions),” the protection letter stated.
Her legal professional stated all of it “warped” her ethical compass and led her to take actions “that she knew to be flawed, serving to him steal billions.”
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail in March. He has filed an attraction to overturn his conviction.
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