Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried’s partner in FTX crime, sprung early from prison
Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Online records purportedly showed Ellison was set to be released in February, nine months earlier than the duration of her sentence.
Despite facing 110 years in prison for seven charges, a New York judge said he gave the 31-year-old a shorter sentence due to her “very, very substantial” cooperation with the federal case against Bankman-Fried and other executives.
“She cooperated, and he denied the whole thing,” Judge Lewis Kaplan said at the time. “I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years here. I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison.”
FTX allegedly took $10 billion from customer deposits, while at the same time granting Alameda Research a $65 billion credit line. This eventually resulted in an $8 billion debt taken out of customer deposits.
Ellison testified with other shocking allegations; “CBS Mornings” reported at the time that Alameda allegedly used $100 million of FTX customer deposits to bribe Chinese officials.
The bribes were an alleged attempt to gain access to crypto accounts that were frozen by the Chinese, worth upwards of $1 billion. In their attempts, FTX allegedly tried to regain the money by setting up accounts in the names of Thai prostitutes.
RELATED: Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison over massive FTX crypto-scandal
Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Ellison also claimed that in order to recoup some money, Bankman-Fried considered selling shares in FTX to investors like Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Ellison reportedly told jurors that Alameda Research would lend money to Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives so they could make political donations. Bankman-Fried donated a reported $70 million to Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterms, making him the second-highest donor behind George Soros.
FTX’s deep pockets allowed for big-name sponsorship deals with people like NFL legend Tom Brady and iconic television writer Larry David and even allowed for naming rights to FTX Arena in Miami.
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