The ex-girlfriend of disgraced FTX crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, was facing up to 110 years in prison before agreeing to cooperate with the feds, her plea deal shows.
The former Alameda hedge fund CEO, 28, pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in an agreement signed on Monday.
“The maximum aggregate sentence of incarceration for counts one through seven of information is 110 years’ imprisonment,” said the Document filed by US attorney for the Southern District of New York read.
The agreement also states that Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang had agreed to “cooperate fully” with the feds, in exchange for which they will probably get much lighter sentences.
Crypto exchange FTX collapsed in November after federal investigators said Bankman-Fried used investor money to fund hedge fund Alameda and that in the summer of this year, Alameda owed FTX customers about $8 billion.
Caroline Ellison pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges this week.
Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang had agreed to “fully cooperate” with authorities.
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For his part in the scheme, the heavy charges against Ellison included wire fraud, commodity fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
However, in exchange for Ellison’s decision to “truthfully and completely disclose all information regarding all matters” of the investigation, prosecutors agree to release the Stanford-educated math whiz on $250,000 bond. Provided she keeps her promise to cooperate with the feds, she will stand trial at a later date.
The bail amount is 1,000 times less than that of her former lover, Bankman-Fried, who is locked up in his parents’ house in Palo Alto with an ankle monitor after being released on $250 million bail following his extradition from the Bahamas.
As part of her advocacy, Ellison, a Native to Massachusetts whose parents both teach at MIT, is also not authorized to travel outside the continental United States and has been forced to surrender her travel documents to law enforcement.
Check out the latest from The Post on the Sam Bankman-Fried FTX scandal
The plea deal shows Ellison is still on the damages line and has also been sued separately by the feds.
Earlier this week, legal experts told the Post why they think Ellison would enable Bankman-Fried.
“Almost invariably, people say, ‘At the end of the day, I have to look after my interests or those of my family. Even though I don’t appreciate what I’m being asked to do,” said Jack Sharman, a white-collar criminal defense attorney for Lightfoot, Franklin and White.
“[Ellison and Wang] will likely undermine many [Bankman-Fried’s] defenses or arguments that they were in charge or doing things without his knowledge,” added Michael Weinstein, former federal prosecutor and white-collar defense attorney at Cole Schotz.
Since the FTX scandal imploded in November, Ellison has ditched his jet-setting lifestyle between the ultra-luxury penthouse in the Bahamas and Hong Kong and kept a low profile. She was only spotted once, having coffee in New York on December 21. 4.
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