Alameda’s Caroline Ellison Says SBF, FTX Execs Received Secret Loans Worth Billions 13

Alameda’s Caroline Ellison Says SBF, FTX Execs Received Secret Loans Worth Billions

  • Caroline Ellison testified that Sam Bankman-Fried received billions from Alameda Research.
  • Ellison and SBF conspired to hide the commingling of funds from FTX investors and customers. 
  • The former Alameda Chief prepared false balance sheets to mislead stakeholders. 
  • Ellison has pleaded guilty and is cooperating with prosecutors. 

Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Sam Bankman-Fried’s quantitative trading firm Alameda Research, made sensational claims during her plea hearing on 19 December. A transcript of the said hearing was unsealed earlier today. According to a report by Reuters, Ellison has confessed that FTX executives including former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, received secret loans worth billions of dollars from Alameda. 

Caroline Ellison prepared fake balance sheets to mislead investors

The former Alameda chief revealed that the trading firm could borrow unlimited funds from the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX. The transcript further revealed that Ellison and Bankman-Fried conspired to hide this crucial information from FTX’s investors, customers, and creditors. 

We prepared certain quarterly balance sheets that concealed the extent of Alameda’s borrowing and the billions of dollars in loans that Alameda had made to FTX executives and to related parties,”

Ellison told U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams.

The United States Department of Justice put out a press release yesterday which revealed that Caroline Ellison had reached a plea deal and will be cooperating with prosecutors in the investigation. FTX co-founder Gary Wang also pleaded guilty and secured a similar deal with the prosecutors. 

Wang revealed during his plea hearing, which was also held on 19 December, that he was directed to alter FTX’s code to give Alameda exclusive access to the exchange. At the time, investors and customers of the exchange were being told that Alameda had no such privileges. Wang did not name the people who issued these directions. 

Both Ellison and Wang will likely be called upon to testify against former associate Sam Bankman-Fried whose next hearing is scheduled for 3 January 2023. SBF was released into the custody of his parents in Palo Alto, California yesterday after he posted a bail bond of $250 million.