Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in prison over FTX collapse

Caroline Ellison, the ex-girlfriend of convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for her role in the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Bloomberg reported. She must also pay $11 billion in forfeiture.

Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research, a trading firm started by Bankman-Fried that received billions in FTX customer funds. She pleaded guilty to wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering.

Judge Lewis Kaplan praised Ellison for cooperating with the government and testifying against Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March.

“I’ve seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years,” Kaplan said. “I’ve never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison.” Still, Ellison was “by no means free of guilt,” the judge said, according to Bloomberg.

The sentencing marks a closing chapter in the judicial process over FTX’s collapse, which was one of the largest financial scams in US history, and cost customers and investors nearly $10 billion. Former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh await their sentences.