Alameda’s Caroline Ellison Enters Plea Agreement with DOJ

Sam Bankman-Fried’s partners in crime, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, are both cooperating with the U.S. Department of Justice.

$250,000 Bail for Full Cooperation

Caroline Ellison is cooperating with the Justice Department.

A plea agreement between former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and the Southern District of New York was unsealed yesterday. The document, which was written on December 18, indicates that Ellison is willing to plead guilty to seven charges for the part she played in the FTX fraud.

The SDNY is charging Ellison with counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders, wire fraud on lenders, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, and conspiracy to commit money laundering. 

These are the same charges that were brought against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (he is also accused of conspiracy to defraud the United States and violate campaign regulations). The charges against Ellison carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.

In return for Ellison’s full cooperation, the SDNY has offered to not prosecute her for any further crimes related to FTX, with the exception of potential tax violations. With regards to the seven aforementioned counts, the SDYN will formally request the court to consider Ellison’s assistance to the investigation when sentencing her.

Ellison will also be granted bail if she can provide a $250,000 bond. She is not allowed to leave the continental United States and must surrender all of her travel documents. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission have also both filed charges against Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams revealed yesterday that Wang was cooperating with authorities alongside Ellison.

Disclaimer: At the time of writing, the author of this piece owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.