Ellison, a former top executive for Sam Bankman-Friend’s crypto hedge fund, was sentenced Tuesday for fraud.
Caroline Ellison, a former top executive at Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX cryptocurrency exchange, was sentenced Tuesday to 24 months for her role in a multibillion-dollar fraud involving the bankrupt company.
Ellison, 29, pleaded guilty nearly two years ago and Bankman-Fried for nearly three days at his trial on multiple fraud charges last November. In her emotional testimony, she blamed Bankman-Fried for justifying FTX’s illegal conduct and said she had felt relief when the company collapsed because she „didn’t have to lie anymore.“
U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said Ellison’s cooperation in the case was „very, very substantial“ and praised her testimony, saying he saw no inconsistencies with documents shown to the jury or things she had previously told prosecutors.
But Kaplan said a prison sentence was warranted because Ellison had participated in what he said might be the „greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country.“ As a result, her cooperation with prosecutors should not serve as a get-out-of-jail-free card, Kaplan said.
