Lawyers for Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex, want zero prison time for her

“Caroline Ellison is a young person of enormous talent and promise, with a deep commitment to helping others,” lawyers for Caroline Ellison wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday. 

Lawyers for Caroline Ellison, Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and the CEO of his trading firm Alameda Research, argue that the 29-year-old shouldn’t be sent to prison.

“Caroline Ellison is a young person of enormous talent and promise, with a deep commitment to helping others,” Ellison’s lawyers wrote in a sentencing memorandum filed on Tuesday.

Ellison, her lawyers said, has “focused on rebuilding her life and resolving the civil cases and other consequences arising from her acts at Alameda Research” since testifying at Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial in October.

“Caroline is engaged in volunteer work and writing projects (unrelated to FTX) including a math textbook and works of fiction,” her lawyers wrote.

In their sentencing memorandum, Ellison’s lawyers noted that she “has no reasonable prospect of rebuilding her financial position.”

“She has been rendered effectively unemployable in the near term by the notoriety arising from this case, and the reputational harm is not likely to abate any time soon,” they added.

Following FTX’s bankruptcy, Ellison pleaded guilty to seven charges, which include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, and commodities fraud.

Ellison’s charges collectively carry a maximum prison sentence of 110 years. She later struck a plea deal to cooperate with federal prosecutors.

“Without in any way diminishing the very serious crimes here, we respectfully submit that the policy goals and interests of justice embodied by the section 3553(a) sentencing factors do not require sending Caroline to prison, and accordingly request a non-custodial sentence,” Ellison’s lawyers wrote in their memorandum.

Ellison’s sentencing is set to take place on September 24.

Earlier this year, in March, Bankman-Fried was convicted of seven criminal counts and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Bankman-Fried’s sentence ended up being much lower than the 100-year prison term probation officers had recommended. But it was still much higher than the five to six-and-a-half-year sentence his lawyers had asked for.

The disgraced crypto mogul told ABC News, in an interview published in April, that he is “haunted, every day” by what happened at FTX.

“I never thought that what I was doing was illegal. But I tried to hold myself to a high standard, and I certainly didn’t meet that standard,” Bankman-Fried told ABC News.

Representatives for Ellison and Bankman-Fried didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.