Following the arrest of former FTX boss Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), viewers continue to wonder where former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison is and whether or not she ratted on SBF. Some reports suggest that Ellison is “probably working with the feds” and is possibly the reason why she Ellison was spotted at the Ground Support cafe in Soho.
A lot of cryptocurrency supporters and the media have been wondering where Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, currently stands. After FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), wooed him on a media tour with events like the New York Times Dealbook and his appearance on Good Morning America. More than a month after the FTX bankruptcy, SBF was arrested in the Bahamas and indicted by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, charged with fraud by the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and sued by the Commission. Commodity Futures Trading (CFTC).
Meanwhile, Ellison hasn’t shown up. It was made public on Wednesday that Ryan Salame, FTX’s co-CEO, allegedly ratted out SBF on November 9, two days before FTX’s bankruptcy filing. Salame reportedly told Bahamian authorities that SBF had sent client funds to Alameda Research. All the public knows about Ellison is that she is supposedly now being represented by former SEC Enforcement Division head Stephanie Avakian and Wilmerhale’s legal team. Since SBF’s arrest, some reports suggest that Ellison has also ratted out SBF.
For example, New York Post authors Ben Feuerherd and Bruce Golding published an article on December 14 stating, “Caroline Ellison is probably working with the feds against Sam Bankman-Fried.” The New York Post details that experts say the “Bahamas hellish prison” may make SBF give up their extradition fight. The report details that the prison in which SBF resides is dirty and “worm infested” and SBF’s family has allegedly been trying to get him vegan food. Regarding Ellison, the Post spoke with former SEC attorney Howard Fischer, who said Ellison had a strong incentive to work with law enforcement.
“She would have one of the biggest incentives to cooperate, since it seemed likely that in her effort to exculpate herself, Bankman-Fried would try to single her out,” Fischer told the Post. “The speed of the indictment and the breadth of the charges” meant that “somebody relatively important is cooperating with federal authorities in exchange for leniency for his own possible misconduct,” Fischer added. The former SEC attorney continued:
It is possible that Bankman-Fried’s publicity tour, in which he repeatedly denied knowledge of or responsibility for the mismanagement or theft of client assets, prompted senior officials to fear that he would specifically blame them.
