FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend told a jury today that he donated $10 million to Joe Biden’s campaign to gain “influence.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sasson asked Caroline Ellison what Bankman-Fried said about spending money on politics.
Ellison said: “He thought it was very effective, you could get very high returns in terms of influence by spending relatively little money.”
“He gave $10 million to (Joe) Biden, and that was a relatively small amount of money. “He felt like that gave him influence and recognition.”
Sassoon asked Ellison to describe the “nature of your personal relationship” with Bankman-Fried.
She said: “I would say that the whole time we were together he was also my boss at work, which led to some awkward situations.”
“My general feeling was that I wanted more from our relationship and often felt like he was distant or not paying attention to me.”
When asked why she ended up breaking up with Bankman-Fried, Ellison replied, “Because of the things I mentioned.” I felt like he didn’t devote much time to the relationship.
Caroline Ellison leaves Manhattan Federal Court on October 10, 2023 in Manhattan, New York City
Ellison – the ex-girlfriend of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried – told a jury today that he donated $10 million to Joe Biden’s campaign to gain “influence.”
Caroline Ellison leaves federal court in Manhattan on Tuesday
Ellison told the jury that Bankman-Fried “directed me” to commit fraud and that all the crimes were “committed with Sam.”
Ellison revealed to a jury today that Bankman-Fried donated $10 million to Joe Biden’s campaign to gain “influence.”
Ellison testified that Bankman-Fried “directed” me to commit fraud.
She said Bankman-Fried told her to take $14 billion from the failed crypto exchange’s customers to repay loans from the sister company she ran.
As the prosecution’s star witness, Ellison said that Bankman-Fried created the holes in the computer system that made the fraud possible.
When asked if she committed the crimes alone, she told the New York court: “No, they were committed with Sam.”
Ellison, a 29-year-old daughter of two MIT professors who posted about her love of Harry Potter in online blogs, has already pleaded guilty to fraud and is testifying as part of her plea deal.
The former couple did not make eye contact and Bankman-Fried stared straight ahead as she sat in the witness box
Her testimony is central to the case of prosecutors, who claim FTX was a “house of cards” that was worth $32 billion at its peak.
The crypto exchange collapsed last November after media reports raised questions about its finances.
Ellison entered the courtroom wearing a dark pink dress and gray blazer, appearing calm and confident.
There was no eye contact between her and Bankman-Fried and he stared straight ahead as she sat in the witness box.
In the reception room, a dozen of Ellison’s friends rushed to the television broadcasting the live stream as Ellison showed their support.
She told the court that she ran Alameda Research, FTX’s sister company, which was owned by Bankman-Fried and shared an office with FTX.
Prosecutors alleged it operated like a slush fund, spending billions of FTX customer funds to pay for lavish spending, real estate purchases and political donations.
Sasson asked Ellison, “How do you know Sam Bankman-Fried?”
Ellison said: “We met and worked together during my internship at Jane St (financial trading firm). We later worked together at Alameda and dated for a few years.
Sassoon: “Did you commit any crimes while working at Alameda?”
Ellison said, “Yes, we did.”
Sasson asked what she meant by “we,” to which Ellison replied, “Sam and I and others.”
Sassoon asked, “What crimes did you commit with Sam?”
In response, Ellison told the jury: “Fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering.”
Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, founded by Sam Bankman-Fried, leaves the federal courthouse in Manhattan after testifying on Tuesday, October 10, 2023
Ellison climbed into the back seat of a waiting car after testifying in federal court in Manhattan
When Ellison appeared in federal court in Manhattan on October 10, 2023, Ellison testified that Bankman-Fried “instructed” me to commit fraud
Ellison appeared expressionless as she left court after her testimony Tuesday, clutching her backpack
Ellison clutched her backpack as she left court on Tuesday, where she claimed her ex-boyfriend and former boss Sam Bankman-Fried donated $10 million to Joe Biden’s campaign to gain “influence and recognition.”
Ellison leaves the courthouse Tuesday afternoon
Ellison dodged reporters and climbed into the back seat of a waiting car outside the federal courthouse in Manhattan
Caroline Ellison took the stand in the fraud trial of her ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried on Tuesday. Pictured: Ellison arrives wearing sunglasses and a blue baseball cap
The sexual relationship between Caroline Ellison and Bankman-Fried lasted several years while they both ran the now-disgraced crypto firm FTX
Ellison entered the courtroom wearing a dark pink dress and gray blazer, appearing calm and confident
When asked who she defrauded, Ellison said: “FTX’s customers, FTX’s investors and lenders.”
Sassoon said: “Just to be clear, did you commit these crimes alone?”
Ellison said, “No, they were admitted with Sam.”
At that point, Ellison was asked if she had seen Bankman-Fried in court.
She stood up and spent a few minutes searching the courtroom, apparently having difficulty finding him.
Bankman-Fried has lost a lot of weight recently, wore far nicer clothes than his typical shorts and T-shirt, and had his hair cropped short on the sides.
Eventually Ellison saw him and said he was “over there wearing a suit” and pointed to Bankman-Fried.
Sassoon asked: “You defrauded FTX customers with the defendant. ‘What was his involvement in the crimes?’
Ellison said, “He was originally the CEO of Alameda and then the owner of Alameda, and he directed me to commit these crimes.”
Sassoon asked Ellison to explain “generally” what she did to commit crimes.
She said: “Alameda took billions of dollars of money from FTX customers and used it to invest and pay off our debts.”
Ellison said Alameda’s special privileges at FTX meant the company had an “unlimited line of credit at FTX.”
Sassoon asked “what role” Bankman-Fried played in taking the money and sending it to Alameda.
Ellison said he was the one who “put the systems in place” that made this possible.
She said: “He was the one who instructed us to take customers’ money to repay the loans.”
Ellison said that Alameda collected “around $14 billion” from FTX customers before its collapse.
The court sketch shows Assistant US Attorney Danielle Sassoon questioning Ellison in front of a screen showing Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Sam Bankman-Fried shaking hands
Bankman-Fried partnered with Ellison and named her head of FTX’s sister company Alameda Research
Bankman-Fried faces up to 115 years in prison if convicted of a series of fraud charges
Ellison told the jury that she grew up near Boston and studied mathematics at Stanford University before working as an intern in the equity department at Jane Street, a trading firm.
There she met Bankman-Fried while he was working as a trader.
He left and in the spring of 2018 she met him for coffee when he told her he had started his own company, Alameda, and offered her a job as a trader.
But shortly after joining, she discovered that Alameda was in “much worse shape than I realized.”
She said: “Just before I started working there, it suffered huge losses.” “The lenders took a lot of money out and more than half the company actually defaulted.”
Sassoon asked whether Bankman-Fried had informed her of these “harsh circumstances” before she joined.
She said no. Ellison told the jury: “I asked why he hadn’t revealed more of this information and he apologized and said he didn’t know how to tell me.”
Ellison said that they were “not really” open about their relationship and that they kept a “secret” the first time they were together.
The second time, Bankman-Fried “agreed to make it public” and they lived together but “didn’t talk about it much.”
Ellison said she became co-chief executive officer of Alameda in 2021 — at the time she and Bankman-Fried were “on a break” — and executive director in 2022.
She told the jury that her salary did not change when she became co-director and that it remained at $200,000 a year.
She received bonuses ranging from $100,000 per year to $20 million, her highest bonus, in 2021.
She asked Bankman-Fried for an equity stake in Alameda, but he turned her down, saying it was “too complicated and didn’t make sense.”
She received a 0.5 percent stake in FTX, a fraction of what Bankman-Fried and his other top lieutenants owned.
Ellison admitted she was “not particularly” suited to lead Alameda.
She said: “I felt like it was a big job and I wasn’t very experienced. “Sam said there was no better person for the job.”
She told the jury that she was concerned when she discovered that Alameda had loaned billions of dollars to Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and chief engineer Nishad Singh.
Ellison told the jury she was concerned when she discovered that Alameda had loaned billions of dollars to Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and chief engineer Nishad Singh
According to Ellison, these loans totaled $5 billion as of May 2022 and were investments that were unlikely to be repaid.
In comparison, she only received a $3.5 million loan, which she used to finance an investment in a gambling company.
About $35 million of the $5 billion went to Ryan Saleme, a former FTX employee, who used it to donate to Republican politicians, Ellison said in court.
Ellison said Bankman-Fried told her he was “risk neutral” and willing to take risks if there was a good potential payoff.
She said: “He would happily flip a coin if it came up tails if the world was destroyed. If it came up heads, the world would be twice as good.”
Ellison’s statement came after FTX co-founder Gary Wang testified against Bankman-Fried as part of his own plea deal. The company’s chief technical officer, Nishad Singh, is also expected to testify later in the trial.
Bankman-Fried, 31, denied 13 charges between 2019 and 2011, including wire fraud, money laundering and violating campaign finance laws that could result in a prison sentence of 115 years.