 
 
Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, is now a free woman after serving just 14 months of a two-year sentence tied to the spectacular multi-billion-dollar collapse of FTX and the exchange’s sister trading firm.
Caroline Ellison Released From Prison Early
According to U.S. Bureau of Prisons records, Ellison, 31, was released from the Residential Reentry Management field office in New York City on January 21, over a year after she handed herself over to authorities.
The ex-Alameda Research CEO was one of the executives linked to the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX to serve time behind bars, along with former FTX CEO “SBF” Bankman-Fried and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame.
Ellison’s Wednesday release came roughly ten months ahead of her originally scheduled term, reflecting her cooperation with United States authorities and good behavior. She was initially set to be released in February, which would have still been short of her two-year sentence.
She pleaded guilty to multiple fraud and conspiracy charges related to the misuse of FTX customer funds and was sentenced in 2024 after testifying extensively against Bankman-Fried at his criminal trial.
 
During the 14 months that Ellison has spent in federal prison, the price of Bitcoin has seen a roughly 68% growth to a record peak of just above $126,000. The alpha crypto was trading around $75,600 when she reported to prison in Danbury, Connecticut, and was hovering around $88,989 as of publication time.
As part of her cooperation agreement, Ellison agreed to a 10-year ban on serving in corporate leadership positions for publicly traded companies.
Notorious FTX Culprit Sam Bankman-Fried Remains Behind Bars
SBF, who was handed a 25-year prison sentence last year, was found guilty of stealing approximately $8 billion in customer funds while lying to creditors and investors. He used misappropriated funds to finance risky investments, donated millions of dollars to U.S. politicians, and acquired luxury real estate.
Bankman-Fried, who is scheduled for release in 2044, maintains his innocence and is pursuing an appeal of his conviction and sentence. He has also been reportedly angling for a potential presidential pardon from President Donald Trump.
Between January and October 2025, the president used his clemency powers to free Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, Arthur Hayes and two other BitMex exchange cofounders convicted of Bank Secrecy Act violations, and Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to facilitating money laundering at the world’s biggest crypto exchange by trading volume.
However, Trump recently clarified that he has no plans to pardon SBF.