Caroline Ellison, the former cryptocurrency executive and ex-girlfriend of Sam Bankman-Fried, has been quietly moved out of federal lockup after serving roughly 11 months of her two-year prison sentence, Business Insider has learned.
Ellison, 31, was transferred on October 16 from the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut to what’s known as community confinement, a Federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said.
That means Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research cryptocurrency hedge fund, remains in federal custody but is now either in home confinement or a halfway house, BOP spokesperson Randilee Giamusso told Business Insider.
“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual, including reasons for transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual’s specific location while in community confinement,” Giamusso said.
Online prison records list Ellison’s projected release date as February 20, 2026 — nearly nine months early. Her attorneys declined to comment for this story.
Ellison reported to the low-security Danbury prison in early November 2024 to serve a two-year sentence she received for her role in the massive multibillion-dollar fraud scheme that led to the collapse of Bankman-Fried’s business empire.
She had pleaded guilty to conspiring with Bankman-Fried — the founder of the FTX crypto exchange and its sister company, Alameda Research — in the $11 billion fraud scheme.
Ellison served as the star witness in Bankman-Fried’s 2023 criminal trial, testifying that the pair used Alameda to invest billions of dollars’ worth of assets secretly siphoned from FTX customers.
At Ellison’s sentencing hearing, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan praised her “substantial” cooperation in the prosecution of Bankman-Fried, but said the seriousness of the case still required prison time.
Her lawyers had asked that the judge not impose any prison time, but Kaplan rejected what he called a “literal get-out-of-jail-free card.”
Before she was sentenced, Ellison, holding back tears, apologized and expressed regret for her participation in the fraud scheme.
“On some level, my brain doesn’t even comprehend all the people I harmed,” Ellison told the court. “That doesn’t mean I don’t try.”
Bankman-Fried was sentenced by Kaplan to 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
The FTX founder and former CEO remains behind bars at a low-security federal prison in San Pedro, California, as he appeals his conviction and sentence.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have argued that he should get a new trial after prosecutors unfairly previewed his testimony.
