Caroline Ellison has been sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, described as one of the largest financial frauds in US history.
Ellison, 29, was a senior executive at the company and is also the ex-girlfriend of its founder, Sam Bankman-Friedwho was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing more than $8bn (£6.3bn) from its customers.
As part of a plea deal, Ellison admitted charges including wire fraud and money laundering and testified against Bankman-Fried. She was also ordered to forfeit more than $11 billion (£8.2 billion) to the court and could pay more if she is ordered to pay any restitution.
She faced a maximum sentence 55 times the one she was given, or 110 years in prison.
While Judge Lewis Kaplan called her cooperation with prosecutors “remarkable,” he said she was “gravely culpable” and that her assistance and remorse for the crimes should not be a “get out of jail free card,” according to Reuters.
In court, Ellison apologized to the victims of the scam, according to US media reports.
“On some level, my brain can’t even comprehend the magnitude of the harm I’ve caused,” she said.
FTX was founded in 2019. Just two years later, it had become the third largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world, valued at $32bn (£26bn).
His apparent success made Bankman-Fried a billionaire and business celebrity.
But in 2022, rumors of financial difficulties sparked a run on its deposits, precipitating the company’s implosion and exposing Bankman-Fried’s crimes.
He was convicted by a New York jury last year of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, after a trial that detailed how he had used customers’ money for real estate purchases, investments and political donations.
Ellison was one of Bankman-Fried’s closest lieutenants, living and working out of the company’s offices and luxury condos in the Bahamas. The couple, through their ups and downs, built the dual empires of FTX and Alameda Research.
While Bankman-Fried was arrested and spent time in jail before his trial, Ellison remained free and agreed to assist with criminal investigations.
The revelation that she would testify against her former boyfriend and boss added to the drama of the high-profile trial.
Ellison testified for three days, telling the jury that Bankman-Fried ordered him and others to take money from FTX customers without their knowledge.
In a tearful testimony, she said she felt “incredibly bad” about the fraud.
Prosecutors said Ellison met with them about 20 times to help them piece together the FTX story and present their case against Bankman-Fried.
Before sentencing, Ellison’s legal team had argued that the help she had provided meant she should not be sent to prison.
The Manhattan U.S. attorney’s office, which filed the complaint, declined to seek a specific sentence but acknowledged what it called the victim’s “extraordinary” cooperation and expression of remorse.
In May, Ryan Salame, co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, was sentenced to 90 months in prison.
Salame pleaded guilty last September to violating political campaign finance laws and operating an illegal money transmission business.
