As of 2023, Caroline Ellison’s net worth is estimated to be $5 million, even despite the case of the Cryptocurrency, FTX. In this article, we’ll review both her career and personal background, as well as the FTX case, to know how she winded up on this position.
Caroline Ellison was born in November of 1994 to Glenn and Sara, both economists working at MIT. She was raised in the suburbs of Boston, Massachusetts. As a teenager, Ellison went to Newton North High School, where she represented the US in the 2011 International Linguistics Olympiad. She went on to attend Stanford University, graduating in 2016 with a bachelor’s degree in mathematics. While in college, Ellison competed in the annual Putnam Competition.
Following her graduation from Stanford, Ellison worked for the global proprietary trading firm Jane Street, based in Berkeley, California. Serving as a junior trader there for about a year and a half, she met entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried.
| Person Name: | Caroline Ellison |
|---|---|
| Net Worth: | $5 million |
| Date of Birth: | November, 1994 |
| Place of Birth: | Boston, Massachusetts |
| Gender: | Female |
| Profession: | Co-CEO of Alameda Research |
In March of 2018, Ellison joined the cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research, which had been co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara Mac Aulay the previous year. Ellison became co-CEO of the company alongside Sam Trabucco in October of 2021. After Trabucco stepped down in the summer of 2022, Ellison took over as the sole CEO of Alameda. She also played a critical role in helping Bankman-Fried build his cryptocurrency exchange and hedge fund FTX.
In late 2022, an anonymous source claimed that Alameda owed $10 billion to Bankman-Fried’s FTX, which was alleged to have lent the firm money from its own customer funds. Ellison admitted to this activity, and said that she, Bankman-Fried, and FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh all knew that FTX had taken customer assets and concealed information about their misuse.
Ellison and Bankman-Fried were followers of “effective altruism,” which is a philosophy that states you should make as much money as possible so you can give the most money possible away to charity.
Caroline and her Alameda co-CEO Sam Trabucco were both named as members of Forbes’s “30 under 30” list. At the time she was 27 and he was 29. In the glowing write up, Forbes purported that Alameda was making $3-4 million per day and then made additional outsized gains investing the profits into blockchain platforms like Uniswap and Compound.
In the aftermath of the solvency crisis and financial scandal, Ellison was terminated from her position as CEO of Alameda. Moreover, Alameda, FTX, and more than 100 affiliated companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. For his central role in the massive financial mismanagement of FTX, Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in December of 2022 and indicted on various counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy.
Net Worth Takes a Hit: Cryptocurrency Exchange FTX Declares Bankruptcy Following Wire Fraud Case
In 2023, Caroline Ellison hired an attorney at WilmerHale to begin legal proceedings for her wire fraud case. She admitted guilt in a plea bargain for defrauding FTX customers and conspiring to commit wire fraud on Alameda Research lenders and the company itself. Additionally, she admitted to conspiring to commit commodities fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering.
During this investigation, it was discovered that Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX and Alameda Research, along with others were conspiring to steal billions from FTX customers. Furthermore, Ellison’s boyfriend and FTX executives received billions in loans from Alameda Research.
Alameda Research is a quantitative trading firm founded by Ellison and Gary Wang in 2018 that was one of the leading liquidity providers for FTX. FTX is a cryptocurrency derivatives exchange allowing traders to trade futures, spot and leverage tokens with up to 100x leverage.
After Ellison’s conviction, FTX declared bankruptcy ceasing operation while Alameda Research will continue under separate ownership. However, regulators now have increased oversight regarding customer fund use among cryptocurrency exchanges due to the investigations initiated concerning Caroline Ellison.
In regards to the criminal convictions of Gary Wang and Sam Bankman-Fried respectively charged with wire fraud and accused of receiving loans from Alameda Research, they are currently awaiting trial while CFO Avichal Garg, COO Dan Held,and CTO Robert Leshner among other executives remain under scrutiny having been questioned by investigators.
Caroline Ellison was sentenced 110 years behind bars before accepting a plea deal where she would have a $250,000 bail after relinquishing her assets. Post-plea deal decision sees Ellison assisting prosecutors with further investigating her case while initially regretting her actions as well as admitting guilt in her plea bargain.
Cryptocurrency regulation is expected to expand in light of the Caroline Ellison case that has recently led regulators having more oversight over the use of customer funds.
