Caroline Ellison to be released Jan. 21; SEC bars leadership
Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, who received a two-year prison sentence for her involvement in the misuse of customer funds at cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is set to be released in January following an update from U.S. federal authorities.
As of Wednesday, Ellison’s federal release date is listed as Jan. 21, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She was transferred from prison in October to a Residential Reentry Management field office in New York City and had previously been projected for release on Feb. 20.
Authorities did not publicly disclose the reason for the approximately four-week acceleration. Many federal inmates may qualify for good-conduct time credits and reentry programs.
Ellison rose to prominence after joining Alameda Research as co-CEO and later serving as sole CEO, working alongside Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried at his crypto companies and briefly dating the former FTX chief. Following FTX’s collapse in November 2022, Ellison and others were charged with fraud and money laundering.
Ellison, along with former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, testified against Bankman-Fried at trial and entered plea agreements. Bankman-Fried was subsequently convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Wang and Singh received time served.
Bankman-Fried remains in custody during the holiday period while appealing his conviction and sentence. Absent court action, he is expected to be released in September 2044.
Ryan Salame, the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, pleaded guilty but did not testify at Bankman-Fried’s trial. He was sentenced to seven-and-a-half years in prison in 2024 and is scheduled for release in 2030.
SEC says former FTX executive barred from leadership positions
Although Ellison may soon leave federal custody, she is restricted from serving in corporate leadership roles under a regulator agreement. According to a Friday notice from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Ellison consented to a 10-year officer-and-director bar, prohibiting her from holding leadership positions at a cryptocurrency exchange or other businesses.
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