FTX and Alameda Research founder Sam Bankman-Fried is accused of orchestrating one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history.
Ellison has pleaded guilty to seven criminal counts and has agreed to cooperate with the government. Prosecutors said that not only was she involved in criminal activity that included bribing Chinese officials to regain access to more than $1 billion in frozen cryptocurrency but that she also knew Bankman-Fried was defrauding its customers and did nothing about it.
Ellison made headlines earlier this year after Bankman-Fried shared her private writings with a reporter for the New York Times. The move led to the judge revoking Bankman-Fried's bail and forcing the billionaire to remain behind bars until his trial began. She has claimed she was shocked when she showed up at Alameda. Bankman-Fried had hired about 20 people who knew nothing about trading or cared all that much about crypto.
Jurors in the Bankman-Fried trial are expected to hear a recording of a meeting that took place on Nov. 9, 2022, between Ellison and Alameda employees when she admits Bankman-Fried OK'd the funneling of customer funds to Alameda.Singh, an FTX founder, attended the same Silicon Valley prep school as Bankman-Fried and was close friends with his younger brother, Gabriel Bankman-Fried.
In 2019, Wang, Singh, and Bankman-Fried founded FTX in Hong Kong before moving to the company's headquarters in the Bahamas. At the time, the three friends were committed to"effective altruism," a philosophy that allows followers to prioritize donations that will make the biggest impact for the most people. Like Singh and Bankman-Fried, Wang sat on the board of the FTX Foundation, and they all lived together in a penthouse on the Bahamian island of New Providence.