Caroline Ellison freed after 14 months of two-year sentence

Caroline Ellison, former chief executive of Alameda Research and a key witness in the FTX prosecution, has been released from federal custody after serving about 14 months of a two-year sentence, according to U.S. Bureau of Prisons records.

Ellison, 31, pleaded guilty in late 2022 to fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the misuse of FTX customer funds. She was sentenced in 2024 after testifying at length against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. FTX collapsed in 2022 after revelations that Alameda Research relied on FTX’s own token and had access to customer assets, setting off a liquidity run.

Bureau of Prisons records indicate Ellison spent the final portion of her term in the agency’s Residential Reentry Management program, a halfway house placement that provides supervised transition back into the community.

As we covered previously, Bureau of Prisons data showed Ellison was moved from FCI Danbury to community confinement on Oct. 16, after roughly 11 months of her two-year sentence. She remained under federal supervision but was no longer inside the main prison.

Under her plea agreement and related settlements, Ellison agreed to forfeit $11 billion in assets tied to the FTX and Alameda fraud. She also accepted a 10-year ban on serving as an officer or director of a company.

Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence at a low-security federal facility in the Los Angeles area. The FTX saga is scheduled to be dramatized this fall in a Netflix limited series, “The Altruists,” starring Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle.