Caroline Ellison, whose testimony helped convict her former boss and ex-boyfriend, disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced Tue

Caroline Ellison, former FTX exec and Sam Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend, sentenced to 2 years in prison

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2024-09-24 22:30:05

Caroline Ellison, whose testimony helped convict her former boss and ex-boyfriend, disgraced cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced Tuesday to two years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.

Ellison was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Manhattan by Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to 24 months and ordered to forfeit $11 billion for her involvement in the collapse of Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange company, FTX, CNBC reported.

Ellison, 29, accepted a plea deal to charges of conspiracy and financial fraud in December 2022, a month after FTX spiraled into bankruptcy. She testified against Bankman-Fried for nearly three days at his trial last November.

Bankman-Fried was convicted of all seven criminal fraud charges against him and sentenced to 25 years in prison. Prosecutors said in a court filing that her testimony was the "cornerstone of the trial."

Lawyers for Ellison had asked that she be sentenced to time served and supervised release, citing her cooperation. In a court document filed earlier this month, her lawyers say she made a swift return to the U.S. in 2022 from FTX’s headquarters in the Bahamas and voluntarily cooperated with the U.S. attorney’s office.