Caroline Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research and a central figure in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is scheduled for release from federal custody on Wednesday, July 8, 2026, after serving approximately 440 days of a two-year prison sentence, according to data from the U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons. Her release comes nearly ten months ahead of the original projected term, reflecting credit for extensive cooperation with prosecutors and good conduct while incarcerated. Ellison, now 31, has been held in community confinement at a residential reentry management facility (commonly known as a halfway house) in New York since late 2025.
Ellison's Role in the FTX Case and Her Guilty Plea Collaboration
Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022 to multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy tied to the misuse of customer funds at FTX and the trading firm Alameda Research. She was sentenced in September 2024 to two years in prison. As part of her plea agreement, Ellison cooperated extensively with federal authorities and provided critical testimony against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried during his criminal trial in 2023. Her testimony detailed how Alameda and FTX commingled customer assets, concealed financial losses, and relied on an effectively unlimited line of credit that allowed Alameda to draw directly from FTX customer deposits. This evidence was instrumental in Bankman-Fried's conviction on multiple fraud charges. In March 2025, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit up to $11 billion in assets to compensate investors and lenders.
In addition to her prison sentence, federal regulators have barred Ellison from serving as an officer or director of a public company or cryptocurrency exchange for ten years. The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has also sought similar prohibitions against other former FTX executives who cooperated with authorities, including former CTO Gary Wang and ex-engineering head Nishad Singh, both of whom avoided prison time. FTX collapsed in November 2022 after a liquidity crisis exposed a multi-billion-dollar hole in its balance sheet, triggering one of the largest bankruptcies in the history of the crypto industry. Bankman-Fried and Ellison reportedly had an on-again, off-again romantic and professional relationship, living together with other FTX executives in a Bahamian penthouse while working closely at Alameda Research.