The former crypto king and founder of the crypto exchange company FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison by the court. There's a significant role played by his ex-girlfriend in this sentence.
Bankman was found guilty of massive fraud and conspiracy that led to the collapse of his company and harmed consumers and investors. Judge Lewis Kaplan at the Manhattan Court also ordered him to pay a fine of USD 11 billion or Rp 174 trillion to the US government.
In delivering the sentence, Lewis Kaplan cited the testimony of Caroline Ellison, the defendant's ex-girlfriend and early employee of his crypto company. "I keep remembering Ms. Ellison's testimony that she knew it was wrong. She knew it was criminal behavior," Kaplan said, as quoted from CNBC.
Ellison was a key witness for the Department of Justice in the prosecution of Bankman. She agreed to a deal in December 2022, a month after FTX went bankrupt. She provided text messages, documents, and secret recordings to the government and the jury, ultimately aiding in sending Bankman-Fried to prison.
Ellison, who ran FTX's sister hedge fund company, Alameda Research, pleaded guilty to various charges. Although Ellison faced the same sentencing guidelines as Bankman, she is expected to receive a much lighter sentence due to her role as a cooperating witness.
Ellison entered the crypto world alongside Bankman in 2017. She had previously worked as a trader at Jane Street, where Bankman began his career in finance. Bankman reportedly convinced the Stanford graduate to leave Wall Street and join Alameda.
Ellison spent years as Bankman-Fried's girlfriend. She followed him from California to Hong Kong and eventually to the Bahamas. In 2021, Ellison was promoted to CEO of Alameda, a job that both Ellison and Bankman felt wasn't suitable for her.
Ellison doubted whether her performance at Alameda was good, even resorting to taking sedatives to muster enthusiasm for her work there. "I felt very unhappy and overwhelmed with my job. In the end, I couldn't wait to go home, turn off my phone, have a drink, and disconnect from it all," she wrote in a document.
During the trial, lawyers argued that Bankman used Ellison as a front when in reality, he still controlled Alameda. Throughout her testimony, Ellison built a narrative that she acted on Bankman's instructions to help him steal customers' money from FTX and use it to support Alameda.
During her testimony, Ellison avoided eye contact with Bankman. She often stared at her hands between questions and sometimes tucked her hair behind her ears. Bankman himself often grimaced.
Ellison told the jury that her breakup with Bankman in 2022 affected their communication. They mostly communicated through the Signal app despite still living in the same apartment and often avoiding each other outside of work.lets work with cara ngemis online digital
