FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend and star witness, Caroline Ellison, received her fate in New York Federal court this Tuesday.
According to CNBC, the court rejected Ellison's no-prison sentence request. She will be spending 2 years behind bars and forfeiting $11 billion due to her involvement in FTX's massive fraud and conspiracy charges.
More than her relationship with Bankman-Fried, she also led Alameda Research, which also played a role in the FTX's fraud activities and received a stolen $8 billion from victims. While Ellison cooperated with prosecutors to convict Sam Bankman-Fried, Judge Lewis Kaplan stated that a prison sentence is necessary to discourage others from executing similar fraud cases.
Ellison has since expressed her regrets and apologized to victims of FTX fraud. She already pled guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in 2022 and has been free to roam due to bail.
READ MORE: Sam Bankman-Fried Will Not Face a Second Trial After Multibillion-Dollar FTX Fraud Conviction
Sam Bankman-Fried's Charges
Unlike Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried stood on trial. Though he no longer had to face a second trial, VCPost shared that he received seven criminal fraud charges. Together with a 25-year prison sentence, he will also forfeit $11 billion as well.
Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, FTX's other executives involved in the case, are still waiting for their charges though they already pled guilty in court.
Besides the $11 billion worth of fraud associated with FTX, BBC learned that Ellison has other financial settlements to sort out. Her attorneys announced they agreed with the FTX estate and prosecutors already, but no exact amount was disclosed. Her shares in Anthropic, an AI startup, are believed to be included in the settlements.
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