Caroline Ellison is the latest to go to prison over the multibillion-dollar FTX fraud scheme. The on-again-off-again girlfriend of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to two years behind bars.
She was a star witness for the prosecution against her former boss and boyfriend, commonly known by his initials, SBF. But the judge said her help in the case was not a “get-out-of-jail-free card.”
The crimes she pleaded guilty to carry a maximum sentence of 110 years. Two years in a minimum security prison will get her out of there at around age 32. Ellison pleaded guilty to conspiring to help SBF steal $8 billion in customer funds.
The now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange used to be one of the largest in the world. It had memorable commercials featuring the likes of Larry David, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, and Stephen Curry. The celebrities were later sued for endorsing FTX.
The whole house of cards came crumbling down nearly two years ago when it came out that SBF was taking customer funds from the crypto exchange to plug losses in its sister company, the crypto trading firm Alameda Research. Ellison was the CEO at Alameda.
Let’s look at what happened with the other players in this scheme.
Sam Bankman-Fried
At age 32, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture for orchestrating the scheme. The judge allowed SBF to start his sentence in a Brooklyn jail as he worked on his appeal before being transferred to a federal prison.
This brings up a twist no one saw coming: SBF’s new jailmate is Sean “Diddy” Combs. Sources told multiple media outlets Combs moved in this week as he faces sex trafficking charges. The dorm-style unit at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn often houses high-profile inmates. NBC New York says the unit has roughly 18-20 inmates and a shared living space.
Nishad Singh and Gary Wang
Along with Caroline Ellison, the prosecution in SBF’s case leaned on two other FTX executives, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang. Both face sentencing soon, on Oct. 30 and Nov. 20, respectively.
Singh was the former director of engineering. He pleaded guilty to six criminal charges, including fraud and conspiracy. He said he signed off on transactions and programmed the systems to route customer funds from FTX to Alameda.
Wang was the chief technology officer. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud and commodities fraud.
Both said they cooperated with the FBI because it seemed like the right thing to do and they are hoping to avoid jail time.
Ryan Salame
Former executive Ryan Salame did not testify against SBF and is scheduled to start serving a 7.5-year sentence next month. He pleaded guilty to charges involving campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes.
But now he’s asking to void his plea deal, claiming prosecutors reneged on a promise not to go after his romantic partner. Michelle Bond, who shares a 9-month-old child with Salame, was recently indicted on federal charges. Prosecutors said she conspired to raise unlawful campaign contributions from FTX for her failed congressional campaign.
Prosecutors in Salame’s case said they never promised Salame his partner would be spared and are asking the court to reject his petition.
To complicate matters, Salame told the judge during his plea deal that prosecutors hadn’t promised him anything. Now the judge is supposedly furious at him for lying and needs time to think about what’s next.
If nothing changes, Salame is set to report to prison on Oct. 11.
