Will Caroline Ellison Go to Prison? What You Need to Know Ahead of Sentencing

Caroline Ellison is used to playing something of a supporting role in business and in life: About three years ago, the twenty-something math whiz became co-CEO of crypto quant trading firm Alameda Research alongside Sam Trabucco, though she later took over the role fully.

Before that, she had carved out a place for herself in the inner circle of Alameda’s sister exchange, FTX—cementing her role as the dutiful lieutenant, lover, and confidant to its founder and CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. 

But on Tuesday, Ellison will be the one taking center stage at a federal court in Manhattan, where she’ll be sentenced for her role in FTX’s multi-billion-dollar collapse. Bankman-Fried got 25 years in prison for his crimes, though he recently appealed. Will Ellison face a similar fate?

Here’s everything you need to know about former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison’s sentencing. 

Who is Caroline Ellison?

Caroline Ellison, 29, is the former co-CEO of Alameda Research, a crypto quant trading firm founded in 2017. 

For several years, she was also engaged in an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who led the firm’s sister crypto exchange, FTX.

At the direction of Bankman-Fried, Ellison borrowed billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX, using the misappropriated crypto to cover Alameda's losses. Her co-conspirators also used funds for political donations and risky gambles such as startup investments.

By the time the fraud was uncovered, the firms had lost more than $8 billion worth of FTX customers’ deposits. 

After FTX’s collapse in 2022, Ellison was fired from her Alameda leadership position and took on a new role—that of star witness in the criminal case against her former boss and lover, Sam Bankman-Fried.

When and where is the sentencing?

Caroline Ellison will receive her sentencing at the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York in lower Manhattan on Tuesday, September 24. 

The sentencing is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. ET.

What was Ellison convicted of?

Ellison has pleaded guilty to two counts each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, in addition to one count each of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. 

The charges combined carry a maximum sentence of 110 years.

How long could she go to prison for?

While Ellison could technically be handed a 100-year-plus prison sentence, she is unlikely to remain in prison that long. In fact, it's entirely possible that she won't spend any time in the slammer at all. 

Ellison entered a plea deal with federal prosecutors in 2022, limiting the extent to which she'd face criminal prosecution for her role in the FTX-Alameda fraud in exchange for serving as government witness against Bankman-Fried. 

The former executive's defense has requested Ellison receive a “supervised release” without incarceration, a court document shows. Meanwhile, federal prosecutors have not called for a specific amount of prison time for Ellison in a court filing reported on by the New York Times. In the letter to the judge overseeing Ellison's sentencing, government lawyers called her work as a witness in Bankman-Fried's criminal case “not only substantial, but exemplary.”

Separately, eagle-eyed crypto traders watching the case are also betting that Ellison will receive a relatively light sentence for her crimes. 

Some 48% percent of wagers in an online betting pool favor Ellison getting no time behind bars, as of this writing, with that bet steadily rising in popularity over the course of the day Monday on crypto prediction market Polymarket. Only 5% of bettors believe that she will get 60 months or more of prison time.

Edited by Andrew Hayward