Caroline Ellison, the on-again-off-again girlfriend of convicted fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried who headed his crypto hedge fund Alameda Research before testifying against him, has been quietly moved out of federal prison after serving about 11 months of her two-year sentence, according to Business Insider.
Ellison, 31, was transferred on Oct. 16 from the low-security Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut to group confinement, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson instructed Business Insider.
Ellison, who wrote specific, now-deleted weblog posts about polyamory, sexual fantasies and her views on energy and finance that resurfaced in the days following the collapse of FTX and Alameda, stays in federal custody.
Caroline Ellison, the former Alameda Research CEO and onetime girlfriend of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has been moved from federal prison to group confinement after serving about 11 months of her sentence. Gregory P. Mango
She is now either remanded to home confinement or dwelling in a midway home, BOP spokesperson Randilee Giamusso said. A BOP rep confirmed Ellison’s switch in an emailed assertion to The Post.
The company declined to present particulars, citing privateness and security issues.
Ellison’s attorney declined to remark.
Online prison data record Ellison’s projected release date as Feb. 20, 2026 — almost 9 months earlier than her authentic sentence would counsel.
Ellison reported to Danbury in early November 2024 after being sentenced to two years in prison for her position in the sprawling multibillion-dollar fraud that introduced down Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire.
Ellison, who testified against ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried in the FTX fraud case, was transferred out of federal prison in October, according to the Bureau of Prisons. AP
She pleaded guilty in December 2022 to seven prison counts, including fraud and conspiracy, for her position in an $11 billion scheme that siphoned buyer funds from the FTX cryptocurrency exchange to prop up Alameda Research.
Ellison was accused of conspiring to help Bankman-Fried orchestrate the secret switch of billions of {dollars} in FTX buyer money to Alameda, which then used the funds to cowl mounting losses and make dangerous bets.
Ellison also admitted to creating false stability sheets that were proven to lenders to conceal Alameda’s true financial situation.
Her cooperation made her the authorities’s most important witness at Bankman-Fried’s trial.
At Ellison’s sentencing listening to in September 2024, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan praised her “substantial” cooperation with prosecutors but said the seriousness of the crimes required prison time.
Ellison’s attorneys had urged Kaplan to spare her incarceration altogether, arguing that her cooperation was extraordinary and important to the case.
Ellison, the authorities’s star witness in the FTX case against Sam Bankman-Fried, is serving the the rest of her sentence outside prison partitions. Steven Hirsch
Kaplan rejected that request, calling it a “literal get-out-of-jail-free card.”
The choose finally imposed a two-year prison sentence — far below what she could have confronted without cooperation, but still a custodial time period.
Ellison’s transfer to group confinement comes as other cooperating FTX insiders have already prevented further prison time.
Gary Wang, FTX’s co-founder and chief technology officer, and Nishad Singh, the company’s former head of engineering, both pleaded guilty and cooperated extensively with the authorities.
FTX collapsed in November 2022 after it was revealed that roughly $8 billion to $11 billion in buyer funds had been secretly siphoned to its sister firm Alameda Research. REUTERS
Each was sentenced to time served.
Ryan Salame, a former FTX government who did not cooperate, obtained a 7.5-year prison sentence.
In March of last 12 months, Bankman-Fried was sentenced by Kaplan to 25 years in prison after being discovered guilty on all counts.
The disgraced FTX founder is at the moment incarcerated at a low-security federal prison in San Pedro, Calif., while he appeals his conviction and sentence.