Caroline Ellison moved to community confinement, with 2026 release date listed

In everyday terms, community confinement generally refers to home confinement or placement in a halfway house. Either way, a person remains under federal supervision, but they are no longer living inside the main prison facility.

The transfer, as it turns out, happened back on Oct. 16. By then, Ellison had served roughly 11 months of her two-year sentence. Public Bureau of Prisons records now list her projected release date as Feb. 20, 2026. That is earlier than the full term would suggest, but it also fits a common pattern in the federal system: time credits, good conduct time, and program participation can shorten how long someone stays in a standard prison setting, with the final stretch often served in a less restrictive environment.

A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson confirmed that Ellison was moved, but declined to discuss specifics. The agency did not say where she is located, why she was transferred, or what conditions apply to the remainder of her sentence. Officials typically cite safety, privacy, and general policy for people who are outside a facility while still in federal custody.

Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024. At the time, Judge Lewis Kaplan emphasized that she had provided “very substantial” cooperation, but said the scale of the wrongdoing meant a real prison sentence was still necessary. Her attorneys argued for no prison time, but the court rejected that as too lenient.

In the broader FTX saga, Ellison became the most direct voice from inside the inner circle. During Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial, she described how customer funds were used by Alameda and how the company tried to conceal a growing hole on its balance sheet. Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is continuing to challenge the verdict.

Alongside the criminal case, there has been a more practical fight over money and assets. Reports previously said Ellison agreed to hand over assets tied to the FTX collapse, aiming to resolve claims from the bankruptcy estate and avoid additional legal battles. Court filings have also referenced forfeiture and financial judgments that look enormous on paper, but in the real world depend on what can actually be located and recovered.

For many people harmed by FTX, the headline is not Ellison’s status change, but how quickly and how much they will ultimately get back through the bankruptcy process. Still, her transfer is a reminder of how cooperation can reshape the final months of a sentence, even as it leaves the rest of a person’s life to be rebuilt under public scrutiny.

More on the former Alameda CEO’s background in our profile: Caroline Ellison: The Great Mind with a Dark Edge.