Caroline Allison, the former top executive of Sam Bankman-Fried’s collapsed crypto empire, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday — with a judge praising her “remarkable” damning testimony against her ex-boyfriend in a fraud trial.
The 29-year-old MIT graduate held back tears and tilted his head forward slightly as Judge Lewis Kaplan revealed her fate during a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
“To make this literally a get out of jail free card is not something I can think about clearly,” Kaplan said, as Ellison stood, her hands clasped together in front of her, wearing a dark gray blazer over a maroon dress.
The judge described the FTX fraud as one of the biggest financial crimes in history, in which customers of the failed cryptocurrency exchange saw billions of dollars disappear in just a few days in 2022.
Prosecutors had urged the judge to impose a “lenient” sentence on Ellison, who had pleaded guilty to fraud charges and agreed to cooperate with federal authorities.
On Tuesday, the judge drew a distinction between her and Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison because the judge found he had shown no remorse for his crimes.
“While you were seriously culpable in this fraud, there is no doubt that you cooperated significantly,” Judge Kaplan said. “That is a fundamental difference between you and Mr. Bankman-Fried.”
According to trial testimony, Ellison had served as the head of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund, and had also been his girlfriend in the years before his crypto empire collapsed.
This is a developing story. Please check back for more updates.
