Caroline Ellison was released from prison on Wednesday after serving approximately 60% of her two-year sentence. The former CEO of Alameda Research played a key role in the events that led to the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
In anticipation of Ellison's release, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) prohibited her from holding any executive position for 10 years.
An early release
According to the Federal Bureau of Prisons of the United States, the 31-year-old woman is now housed in a reentry house in New York. She will remain there as part of her process of returning to civilian life. These centers help former inmates reintegrate into society by providing support for finding employment and daily readjustment.
Ellison was transferred to a halfway house in October 2025. Previously, she was in a federal prison in Connecticut, where she began serving her two-year sentence in November 2024.
Her release occurred approximately ten months earlier than expected. This was made possible by reductions in the sentence related to Ellison's cooperation with prosecutors and compliance with prison requirements.
In a litigation statement published last month, the SEC barred Ellison for 10 years from being an officer or director of any publicly traded company.
The regulator cited previous allegations claiming that Ellison was key in deceiving investors. These actions helped FTX raise over 1.8 billion dollars by presenting the exchange as a secure platform for trading crypto assets.
The SEC also imposed similar bans on other former FTX employees who cooperated with investigators, including former CTO Gary Wang and former head of engineering Nishad Singh. Both avoided prison sentences despite their involvement.
Reactions to Ellison's early release on Crypto Twitter were diverse.
Divided reactions to Ellison's sentence
Some observers questioned what they considered a relatively mild consequence, given the magnitude of Ellison's actions and the overall damage to the credibility of the crypto industry.
In comparison, Ellison's sentence was much less severe. The founder and former CEO of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, remains in prison serving a 25-year sentence.
Although both were central figures in the FTX collapse, Ellison and Bankman-Fried took different legal paths.
Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty and went to trial. Subsequently, a jury found him guilty of several felonies, including wire fraud and conspiracy related to the misuse of customer funds.
Ellison, on the other hand, pleaded guilty to several charges of fraud and conspiracy and cooperated with prosecutors. This contributed to a significantly lower sentence.
As part of her testimony, Ellison stated that Alameda Research and FTX improperly mixed customer funds, concealed growing losses, and relied on an unlimited credit arrangement, allowing Alameda to directly access customer deposits from FTX.
Ellison's release effectively closed the legal chapter on the high executives of FTX and Alameda Research, whose actions helped set the stage for the crypto winter of 2022. For Bankman-Fried, the chances of an early release seem distant.
In a recent interview, the President of the United States, Donald Trump, stated that he does not plan to grant a pardon to Bankman-Fried. Although Bankman-Fried is appealing his conviction, the likelihood of a new trial is low.
