Caroline Ellison Says She and Sam Bankman-Fried Were ‘Dishonest’
Summary
Caroline Ellison, who was a top adviser to the disgraced cryptocurrency executive Sam Bankman-Fried, said on Wednesday that he directed her to send “dishonest” balance sheets to major lenders of the trading firm she ran for him. The testimony from Ms. Ellison, the government’s star witness, built on the account she gave in court on Tuesday, when she said Mr. Bankman-Fried had repeatedly instructed her to commit crimes. Authorities contend he stole as much as $10 billion from FTX customers to finance venture capital investments, buy luxury real estate, make campaign donations and pay off lenders to Alameda. Ms. Ellison said she kept detailed spreadsheets that showed just how much Alameda owed its lenders and the extent of its reliance on FTX customers to pay down those loans in the worst-case scenario. Alameda’s own crypto assets had plunged in value during the market downturn, meaning the firm had little way to pay back lenders, forcing it to use FTX customer money.