Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of collapsed algorithmic trading firm Alameda, told a judge that she agreed with disgraced former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in providing “materially misleading financial statements to Alameda’s lenders.” According to a transcript of her courtroom allocution, delivered on Dec. 19 but kept sealed until Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bond three days later, Ellison told U.S. District Court judge Ronnie Abrams, “I am truly sorry for what I did—I knew that it was wrong.” The court asked her to clarify. “Did you also know that it was illegal?” “Yes,” Ellison replied. Ellison, along with FTX co-founder Gary Wang, pled guilty last week to federal charges in connection with their roles in the frauds that contributed to FTX’s collapse, and both are cooperating with the Southern District of New York. News of their plea agreements was held back until Bankman-Fried was en route to the U.S. from The Bahamas. The misleading financial statements came in the form of “quarterly balance sheets that concealed the extent of Alameda’s borrowing and the billions of dollars in loans that Alameda had made,” Ellison explained. “I agreed with Mr. Bankman-Fried and others not to publicly disclose the true nature of the relationship between Alameda and FTX, including Alameda’s credit arrangement,” she said.
Full story : Caroline Ellison ‘Knew That It Was Wrong,’ Implicates Sam Bankman Fried.
