US Government Urges Lenient Sentence for Caroline Ellison
The US government is urging a lenient sentence for Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried, following her “extraordinary” testimony in his high-profile fraud case last fall.
US Prosecutors Praise Cooperation of Caroline Ellison
In a letter to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the U.S. Southern District of New York, prosecutors credited Ellison’s “substantial assistance” in building the case against Bankman-Fried. Her testimony was needed, they said, “to bring the most culpable party to justice”.
“The ‘what’ and ‘how’ of the crimes, as well as the ‘why,’ would have been difficult to prove without Ellison’s testimony,” they said.
In turn, as a result of her cooperation, Bankman-Fried was convicted of orchestrating a multibillion-dollar digital asset scheme that misappropriated investor funds of more than $8 billion.
Character Attacks on Ellison
On the other side, Bankman-Fried tried to discredit Ellison by leaking excerpts of her private journal to The New York Times in which she had written down feeling “unhappy” and “overwhelmed” before the fall of FTX. That was considered witness tampering, which cost him his bail in July 2023.
Also, private communications between Ellison and her therapist were shared with author Michael Lewis and released in his book on Bankman-Fried, “Going Infinite.”
“The government cannot think of another cooperating witness in recent history who has received a greater level of attention and harassment”, prosecutors wrote, even for the professional actions that there are consequences of the case.
Her lawyers maintain that Ellison’s role in the crypto scheme was “limited” compared to others. While figures like Ryan Salame tried to withdraw significant funds before FTX’s bankruptcy, the letter expressed, Ellison did not.
Salame, a former CEO of FTX Markets, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison this past May. He filed in Manhattan federal court Thursday seeking to retract his guilty plea. Salame said the U.S. government had failed to keep its promise not to prosecute his partner on campaign finance violations.
Ellison is scheduled to be sentenced September 24 in New York City.
