Caroline Ellison seen for the first time since ex SBF was arrested

EXCLUSIVE: Failed crypto CEO Caroline Ellison, 28, breaks cover as she’s seen for the first time since her ‘fraudster’ ex Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested and jailed in Bahamian prison

• Caroline Ellison was seen for the first time Friday since her ex Sam Bankman-Fried was jailed in the Bahamas
• Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Ellison arriving at her New York City apartment wearing a blue coat and jeans 
• Bankman-Fried, 30, has blamed Ellison, 28, for the collapse of the FTX crypto exchange
• He was indicted on December 8 and is currently in custody in the Bahamas 
• Ellison is named in the charging documents multiple times, but it remains unclear if she too may face charges 

Caroline Ellison is seen for the first time since her ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried was jailed in the Bahamas for his part in the downfall of his FTX crypto exchange.

Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Ellison arriving at her apartment in  New York City’s West Village on Friday. 

She wore a blue jacket, jeans and Keds, with a tan crossbody. The 28-year-old, wearing a face mask and glasses, looked over her shoulder as she entered her building.

Ellison was the CEO of Alameda, the crypto investment firm owned by Bankman-Fried, that prosecutors say was used to funnel billions of dollars through as a ‘personal piggy bank’ for the disgraced founder. 

It remains unclear if she too may face charges for what prosecutors are calling ‘one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.’

Caroline Ellison was seen for the first time Friday since her ex Sam Bankman-Fried was jailed in the Bahamas

Exclusive DailyMail.com photos show Ellison arriving at her New York City apartment wearing a blue coat and jeans

DailyMail.com uncovered the first photo of Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison from March 2021 in Hong Kong celebrating SBF’s 29th birthday 

Ellison was the CEO of Alameda, the crypto investment firm owned by Bankman-Fried, that prosecutors say was used to funnel billions of dollars through as a ‘personal piggy bank’ for the now disgraced founder

Caroline’s sister Anna Ellison was spotted arriving back to her sister’s apartment in NYC

Ellison is named in the charging documents multiple times, along with other members of SBF’s millennial gang, but has not yet been arrested

On Thursday DailyMail.com uncovered a picture from March 2021, which shows SBF, 30, front and center of a group picture with his arm around Ellison, 28, as men in curly wigs – believed to be mocking his signature hairstyle – pose around them.

The photo was taken at SBF’s 29th birthday party at the exclusive club The Crown in Hong Kong. They’re pictured with FTX co-founder Gary Wang and other executives.

Ellison is named in the charging documents multiple times, along with other members of SBF’s millennial gang, but has not yet been arrested. 

SBF installed Ellison as CEO of the multibillion dollar fund in October 2021, despite her limited professional trading experience. 

FTX reportedly lent Alameda billions in clients’ money without their knowledge or permission. The crisis at FTX was triggered when customers rushed to withdraw their funds but the company couldn’t pay out.

The former couple lived in a $40million penthouse at the southern tip of New Providence, the main island in the Bahamas.

They and eight others shared a ‘polycule’ made up of his inner circle of FTX and Alameda executives.

As well as the picture of the couple together, videos have resurfaced in which Ellison appears to ramble while describing her work as CEO handling billions of dollars. 

In one clip she discusses options for yield farming, a method of earning rewards by depositing cryptocurrency into a pool with others. 

‘A big argument around June and July was ”Should we even do yield farming at all?” And I was kind of like, ”Oh I don’t know. This whole thing seems like weird. And aren’t there risks? And what if these platforms get hacked?” And it’s such a big pain operationally.’

She goes on to say that she ultimately lost the argument. 

SBF appears front and center of a group picture with his arm around Ellison, 28, as men in curly wigs – believed to be mocking his signature hairstyle – pose around them. They’re pictured with FTX co-founder Gary Wang (left)

Wearing broken glasses, she laughs awkwardly as she speaks about that time and said, ‘That whole summer, for me a lot of it was sort of about readjusting my expectations and being open to whatever happened.

‘I think like every week or so something like weirder than the previous week would happen. And I was like okay, I just like mentally adjusted myself to [it].’ 

Ellison’s FTX founder ex was taken into custody in the Bahamian capital Nassau after being secretly indicted by a grand jury in New York. 

In a warning Tuesday, Damian Williams, United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said more charges would be filed in the coming days and weeks. 

‘We are not done,’ he said in unequivocal terms, warning that this week’s announcement of charges against Bankman-Fried were just the ‘first’ step. 

Bankman-Fried is the only one to be charged so far. Ellison and others, including Wang and  Nishad Singh, 27, FTX’s fired director of engineering, who are both said to have made billions through crypto, have yet to learn whether they may face legal action. 

They are all now lying low in the wake of the bombshell charges by both federal prosecutors in New York and the Securities and Exchange Commission. 

But just days before SBF’s arrest, Ellison was spotted in New York City at a coffee shop.

Caroline Ellison pulled off one of the biggest frauds in history #sbf #ftx

Replying to @starrynighthouse5 I wish this was a joke #ftx #carolineellison

She was managing $10b+… 😬 #ftx #caroline #alameda

SBF installed Ellison as CEO of the multibillion dollar fund in October 2021, despite her limited professional trading experience

Nishad Singh (left) and Gary Wang, two of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle are still waiting to hear whether they will face charges in connection to the collapse of FTX

Bankman-Fried maintains that the American branch of his crypto-trading platform, FTX US, is solvent and that he would be able to pay ‘everyone back’ who lost money on the international arm, FTX International, if the government unfroze his assets. 

The company however filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year which would suggest there is no money. 

He claims he was forced into it. 

On Tuesday, a judge in Nassau ordered that the FTX founder be held without bail while he fights extradition to the United States on a range of charges that include securities and wire fraud. 

SBF had argued that he should be granted a $250,000 bail and house arrest because of his veganism, depression and dependency on medication.

Instead, Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt ordered he must spend the next two months at the Bahamas’ infamous Fox Hill prison, known for its rodent infestations, violence and the mixing of children with adult prisoners, before his next court appearance on February 8.

He could appeal the decision to hold him in the prison which was designed to hold 1,200 inmates but regularly holds around 2,400. 

Speaking to DailyMail.com, Bahamas-based attorney, Romona Farquarhson said that it was ‘very likely’ that SBF will be granted a hearing at the Bahamas’ Supreme Court, where he could released on bail prior to February 8.

Farquarhson said that it’s unlikely that SBF will be held in Fox Hill’s general population but rather in the prison’s remand center. 

U.S. attorney Damian Williams warned that more charges would be pending against others. ‘We are not done,’ he said 

The prison where SBF is being held is notorious for chronic overcrowding as well as rodent and maggot infestations

A 2021 Amnesty International study found that prisoners in Fox Hill did not have access to bathrooms and were forced to slop out

One section of the study reads: ‘Many cells also lacked running water, and in those cells, inmates removed human waste by bucket’ 

A US State Department study on Fox Hill found that it was infested with rats and maggots while due to low staff numbers, the inmates were only allowed out of their cells for 30 minutes a week. 

One section of the study reads: ‘Many cells also lacked running water, and in those cells, inmates removed human waste by bucket.’

It continued: ‘Sanitation was a general problem, with cells infested with rats, maggots and insects. Ventilation was also a general problem. Prisoners in maximum security had access to sanitary facilities only one hour a day and used slop buckets as toilets.’

Another section said: ‘Prison inmates complained about the lack of beds and bedding. As a result, inmates developed bedsores from lying on the bare ground.’ A study conducted years previously described the prison as ‘harsh’ and ‘primitive.’

 There are a total of seven housing units in the prison, including maximum security, female and central intake. 

Throughout the prison, minors share cells with adult prisoners. 

Source: Read Full Article