SEC Imposes Officer Bans and Injunctions on Former FTX Executives Including Caroline Ellison
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has resolved enforcement actions against key former executives of FTX and Alameda Research, including Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh, through consent judgments subject to court approval.
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, is facing a 10-year ban from serving as an officer or director of any company and a five-year conduct-based injunction. Gary Wang, the former FTX CTO, and Nishad Singh, the former co-lead engineer at FTX, each face eight-year officer/director bans and five-year conduct-based injunctions.
According to allegations, Sam Bankman-Fried, along with Wang and Singh and with Ellison's knowledge and consent, exempted Alameda Research from risk mitigation requirements and provided Alameda with an almost unlimited line of credit funded by FTX customer funds. Wang and Singh are alleged to have created FTX software code that allowed for the diversion of customer funds to Alameda, while Ellison allegedly misappropriated FTX funds for Alameda's trading activities.
Caroline Ellison has previously received a two-year prison sentence for her role and was recently released early. Wang served as a key cooperating witness and avoided jail time, while Singh also avoided incarceration.
These settlements address enforcement actions that were initially filed in 2022 and 2023 and require court approval to become final. Meanwhile, Sam Bankman-Fried remains incarcerated in federal prison serving his fraud sentence.
