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Caroline Ellison, former Alameda and FTX executive, released after 14 months
The former Alameda Research chief and key witness against Sam Bankman-Fried has exited federal custody but remains subject to long-term bans, injunctions, and supervision tied to the FTX collapse.
By Sam Reynolds
Jan 23, 2026, 1:52 a.m.
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What to know:
- Caroline Ellison, the former head of Alameda Research and a key cooperating witness in the FTX case, has been released from federal custody after serving about 14 months of a two-year sentence.
- Ellison, 31, pleaded guilty in 2022 to fraud and conspiracy charges over the misuse of FTX customer funds, agreed to forfeit $11 billion, and accepted a 10-year ban on serving as a corporate officer or director.
- Her relatively short sentence and supervised reentry contrast sharply with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s 25-year prison term.
Caroline Ellison, the former head of Alameda Research and a central cooperating witness in the FTX prosecution, has been released from federal prison after serving about 14 months of a two-year sentence tied to the crypto exchange’s collapse, according to U.S. Bureau of Prisons records.
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Ellison, 31, pleaded guilty in late 2022 to multiple fraud and conspiracy charges related to the misuse of FTX customer funds and was sentenced in 2024 after testifying extensively against Sam Bankman-Fried, the exchange’s founder.
FTX collapsed after CoinDesk revealed that its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research, was propped up by FTX’s own token and secretly relied on customer funds, triggering a loss of confidence that spiraled into a liquidity run.
Ellison had been housed under the Bureau of Prisons’ Residential Reentry Management program, a halfway house placement that allows inmates to serve the final portion of their sentences under supervision while receiving career counseling, job placement support, financial management assistance, and other services aimed at easing their transition back into the workforce and community before full release.
Under her plea agreement and related SEC settlements, Ellison agreed to forfeit $11 billion in assets tied to the FTX and Alameda fraud and accept a 10-year ban on serving as an officer or director of a company.
Ellison’s release stands in sharp contrast to Bankman-Fried’s 25-year sentence, which he is serving at a low-security federal prison in the Los Angeles area.
The FTX saga is set to be dramatized this fall in a Netflix limited series, The Altruists, starring Julia Garner and Anthony Boyle, which chronicles the rise and collapse of Bankman-Fried and Ellison.
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