Sam Bankman-Fried's ex finally got a new job — suspiciously like the old one



Everyone deserves a second chance, according to Caroline Ellison's new boss.

Upon reading Ellison's Tumblr page and Substack, the CEO thinks readers will understand too.

'I believe in redemption.'

Ellison infamously ran Alameda research, a crypto-investment firm, while dating disgraced crypto-exchange mogul and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

Alameda, which was also founded by Bankman-Fried, had a $65 billion line of credit with FTX and was used to lend Bankman-Fried money to allegedly make political donations.

Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison after she pleaded guilty to fraud-related charges, but she was released after 11 months.

Now, the CEO of a nonprofit says Ellison has been working for him since July and accepted a full-time role in August to "develop our funding platform and research how to effectively direct philanthropic dollars."

Austin Chen runs Manifund, which describes itself as a nonprofit that "helps great charities get the funding they need."

Chen admitted in a recent blog post that he felt indebted to the FTX Future Fund, the charitable arm of FTX that funded Manifold Markets, which was also founded by Chen, with Manifund operating as a side project.

"I believe in redemption," Chen wrote. "Caroline has admitted her faults, worked to make creditors whole, and served her time in prison. I'd like to give her the opportunity to contribute back to the world; I hope that the world will concur."

Chen boasted about Ellison's online accounts as the first thing that attracted him to her professionally, including her Tumblr titled "Fake Charity Nerd Girl."

RELATED: Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried's partner in FTX crime, sprung early from prison

Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg/Getty Images

The CEO also cited Ellison's writings on an effective altruism website. While "EA" is described as a philosophical movement with the intention of providing the greatest amount of evidence-based good, it is effectively a nonprofit movement that justifies its decision-making by declaring its own moral leanings as impartial.

"Poverty and disease remain unsolved; billions of animals suffer hell on earth," Chen wrote in relation to the hiring. "I, my team, and many EAs I know, are often burning the midnight candle to address these wrongs. I don't wish to sideline a pair of capable hands."

In the same post, Ellison was revealed to have been writing under the pseudonym "Carol" for the company and provided statements about her new role.

"I'm deeply sorry for what I did, and I completely understand why people may not want to work with me," Ellison said of her past. "But I'm very grateful to Austin for giving me a second chance, and judging me on my current work performance rather than my past. I feel very lucky not only to have a job, but to be working somewhere that I think is doing great work and has a mission I believe in."

RELATED: Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison over massive FTX crypto-scandal

Spencer Platt/Getty Images

With Ellison at the head, Alameda Research allegedly used $100 million of FTX customer deposits to bribe Chinese officials. She blamed Bankman-Fried:

"He directed me to commit these crimes," Ellison reportedly said in court.

During trial, Ellison reportedly told jurors that Alameda Research would lend money to Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives for political donations. Bankman-Fried donated a reported $70 million to Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterms; he was the second-highest donor behind George Soros.

Ellison was making $20 million in salary and bonuses in 2021 as head of Alameda Research.

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Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried's partner in FTX crime, sprung early from prison



Caroline Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison last September after facing a possible 110 years.

Ellison was the CEO of Alameda Research, a crypto investment firm that was co-founded by her ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried, the centerpiece of the FTX scandal that rocked the nation.

'We do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual.'

Bankman-Fried was found to have been improperly funneling money to the hedge fund, and in Dec. 2022, Ellison pleaded guilty to related charges, including conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Now as reported by Business Insider, Ellison has been moved out of federal prison after serving just 11 months at the Danbury Federal Correctional Institute, a low-security prison in Danbury, Connecticut.

Ellison was reportedly transferred out of the facility on October 16 and into community confinement, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told BI.

Spokesperson Randilee Giamusso said that Ellison remains in federal custody by way of either home confinement or through a halfway house.

"For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual, including reasons for transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual's specific location while in community confinement," Giamusso told the outlet.

RELATED: Ellison says FTX used $100M of customer deposits to bribe Chinese officials, set up accounts in names of Thai prostitutes

Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Online records purportedly showed Ellison was set to be released in February, nine months earlier than the duration of her sentence.

Despite facing 110 years in prison for seven charges, a New York judge said he gave the 31-year-old a shorter sentence due to her "very, very substantial" cooperation with the federal case against Bankman-Fried and other executives.

"She cooperated, and he denied the whole thing," Judge Lewis Kaplan said at the time. "I've seen a lot of cooperators in 30 years here. I've never seen one quite like Ms. Ellison."

FTX allegedly took $10 billion from customer deposits, while at the same time granting Alameda Research a $65 billion credit line. This eventually resulted in an $8 billion debt taken out of customer deposits.

Ellison testified with other shocking allegations; "CBS Mornings" reported at the time that Alameda allegedly used $100 million of FTX customer deposits to bribe Chinese officials.

The bribes were an alleged attempt to gain access to crypto accounts that were frozen by the Chinese, worth upwards of $1 billion. In their attempts, FTX allegedly tried to regain the money by setting up accounts in the names of Thai prostitutes.

RELATED: Caroline Ellison sentenced to 2 years in prison over massive FTX crypto-scandal

Photographer: Yuki Iwamura/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Ellison also claimed that in order to recoup some money, Bankman-Fried considered selling shares in FTX to investors like Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

Ellison reportedly told jurors that Alameda Research would lend money to Bankman-Fried and other FTX executives so they could make political donations. Bankman-Fried donated a reported $70 million to Democrats ahead of the 2022 midterms, making him the second-highest donor behind George Soros.

FTX's deep pockets allowed for big-name sponsorship deals with people like NFL legend Tom Brady and iconic television writer Larry David and even allowed for naming rights to FTX Arena in Miami.

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Disgraced Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried agrees to flip on Tom Brady and other celebrity FTX promoters



Middle-aged NFL legend Tom Brady recently hinted at the possibility that he might stage a Michael Jordan-style comeback. He just might have to in order to stay whole thanks to disgraced Democratic mega-donor Sam Bankman-Fried's latest act of betrayal.

Bankman-Fried, the convicted fraudster whose mom figures is too autistic for prison, has apparently agreed to cooperate with the group of cryptocurrency users suing various FTX influencers, including Brady and his ex-wife.

Background

Blaze News previously reported that Tom Brady and his former spouse, Gisele Bündchen, were named in a class-action lawsuit filed in Miami's Southern District of Florida federal court in November 2022, along with former NBA star Shaquille O'Neal, Golden State Warriors basketballer Stephen Curry, Los Angeles Angels baseballer Shohei Ohtani, "Shark Tank's" Kevin O'Leary, and "Seinfeld" cocreator Larry David.

The class-action complaint launched months after the collapse of the crypto exchange company FTX alleges that Brady and the other brand ambassadors were responsible for "misrepresentations and omissions" in the advertisements in which they told acquaintances to unwittingly throw their money away into "the FTX Ponzi scheme."

Brady and Bündchen each took an equity stake in FTX as part of a 2021 ambassadorial partnership. While Brady became a brand ambassador, Bündchen took on the role of FTX's environmental and social initiatives advisor. The former couple appeared in a series of FTX commercials.

Curry similarly got into bed with the ill-fated company, signing on to a "long-term partnership" with FTX in September 2021 in exchange for a now-worthless equity stake. In one advertisement, Curry said, "With FTX, I have everything I need to buy, sell, and trade crypto safely."

Larry David was featured in a Super Bowl commercial for FTX where he played a number of characters rejecting historically consequential ideas, such as the light bulb. The advertisement ultimately showed David reject FTX, then suggested, "Don't be like Larry."

This FTX Super Bowl ad with Larry David ran FTX $1.13B\n\nthe irony of it\u2026 an arrest scene, Larry David saying he doesn\u2019t believe in Crypto, a ton of foreshadowing as @SBF_FTX is on trial\u2026 \n\nThe \u201cdon\u2019t be be like Larry David\u201d line after FTX lost billions of customer funds lol
— (@)

While O'Neal managed to avoid being served in the lawsuit for several months, last April he became the last of the celebrities to be served a legal notice.

No honor among FTX alumni

An April 19 court filing indicates the plaintiffs in the case have reached a settlement with Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison last month for his orchestration of multiple fraudulent schemes and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture, reported Cointelegraph.

The fraudster will cooperate with the investors, and, in exchange, they will drop their civil liabilities against him.

The filing states, "[Bankman-Fried] has knowledge and other information that Class Representatives and Class Counsel believe will be valuable to Class Representatives' cases against other defendants in the FTX MDL [multidistrict litigation], particularly relating to the underlying actions and their connection to Miami, Florida, where FTX's U.S. headquarters were based, as well as each MDL Defendants' knowledge of and assistance with the actions and connections to other states in which jurisdictions over those Defendants is asserted."

Should the court approve the deal, Bankman-Fried would fork over non-privileged documents concerning his assets and his investment in the AI start-up Anthropic, proof of a negative net worth, and documents about the FTX brand ambassadors, reported the Daily Mail.

The Democratic mega-donor also apparently agreed to surrender any information he has about venture capital firms that invested in FTX as well as any accountants or lawyers who worked with the defunct crypto exchange.

CoinDesk reported that the fraudster's former friends and codefendants Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang, have — along with FTX lawyer Dan Friedberg — made similar settlement agreements with the class-action plaintiff's attorneys.

A number of middling talents who promoted FTX, including Jaspreet Singh, Tom Nash, Jeremy Lefebvre, and Graham Stephan, have apparently also settled, as has Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Trevor Lawrence.

While flipping on his former celebrity boosters, Bankman-Fried appears to be trying to dodge accountability for his crimes. Earlier this month, the former multibillionaire appealed his fraud convictions and prison sentence.

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​'One of the biggest financial frauds in American history': Sam Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison​



The financial trial of the decade reached its conclusion and resulted in infamous FTX cryptocurrency trading platform founder Sam Bankman-Fried being found guilty of fraud.

At 31 years old, Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven fraud charges laid against him: two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and conspiracy to commit securities fraud.

Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison after weeks of testimony from former colleagues and founders and even his ex-girlfriend, who helped him run sister hedge fund Alameda Research.

The onetime mogul was described as portraying himself as an overworked genius who slept when he could and drove a modest car. He noted that a lot of people "got hurt" and he made some "larger mistakes" but denied committing fraud, the Daily Mail reported.

Cross-examination

Cross-examination is reportedly where Bankman-Fried lost his ability to act aloof and allegedly attempted to dodge questions while tripping over the inconsistency of his answers.

Prosecutor Nicolas Roos' closing statements to the jury said that Bankman-Fried "thought he was smarter and better'" and said that he spent customers' money and lied.

"The answer is clear: He took the money; he knew it was wrong. He did it because he thought he was smarter and better and could walk his way and talk his way out of it. But today, with you, that ends."

"He didn't have to testify in this trial. He told a story, and he lied to you," Roos continued.

Bankman-Fried was said to be clear and coherent when talking about the offices of Alameda or the reasoning behind sponsorship deals but "a completely different person under cross-examination."

Unable to "remember a single detail about his companies," Bankman-Fried was apparently unable to recall details over 140 times.

Aftermath

Bankman-Fried was described as looking shell-shocked in court, with his mother and father present to hear the verdict. His parents, both Harvard Law professors, reportedly hugged as the verdict was read out. His father then held his head in his hands while his mother plugged her ears, not to hear what the judge was saying.

Mark S. Cohen, Bankman-Fried's attorney, stated that the FTX founder maintained that he's innocent.

"We respect the jury's decision. But we are very disappointed with the result," Cohen said in the statement. "Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."

STATEMENT FROM THE TEAM OF SAM BANKMAN-FRIED \u2014\n\n\u201cWe respect the jury\u2019s decision. But we are very disappointed with the result. Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."
— (@)

Bankman-Fried's sentencing is set for March 28, 2024.

The FTX saga may finally end with an impressive scoreboard after the embezzlement of $10 billion in customer deposits: $1.13 billion in endorsement deals, an alleged $1 billion in assets in China, $70 million to election campaigns, and $40 million to politicians and committees.

Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, later said Bankman-Fried "perpetuated one of the biggest financial frauds in American history."

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Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX infamy convicted on 7 counts



FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been found guilty on seven counts.

FTX, a once-vaunted cryptocurrency exchange, collapsed last year, wreaking havoc in the crypto industry.

According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office Southern District of New York, the 31-year-old Bankman-Fried "was convicted of two counts of wire fraud conspiracy, two counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering" and also "convicted of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud."

The convicted crypto figure's sentencing is scheduled for March 28, reports indicate.

Mark S. Cohen, counsel to Bankman-Fried, said in a statement that Bankman-Fried continues to assert that he is innocent.

"We respect the jury's decision. But we are very disappointed with the result," Cohen said in the statement. "Mr. Bankman Fried maintains his innocence and will continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."

— (@)

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said that Bankman-Fried had carried out one of the largest "financial frauds in American history. A multi-billion dollar scheme," intended to make Bankman-Fried "the king of crypto," Williams said.

— (@)

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