Plea hearing court transcript: Caroline Ellison said she and Sam Bankman-Fried knowingly misled investors, lenders, and customers that Alameda borrowed from FTX
bond packages only require around 10-15% of the total amount to be paid. Teflon Tom / @agrizzi8 : This case offers an insight into the world of crypto. Rather than accidental, the fraud and other criminal activities are systemic and intentional. The scaffolding of crypto is designed to defraud. If you still believe in this crap, you need medical attention. https://twitter.com/... @innercitypress : On #FTX / Alameda, here from (scripted) allocution in unsealed guilty plea transcript of Caroline Ellison 4/x https://patreon.com/... https://twitter.com/... Josh Barro / @jbarro : We have an essay from @Popehat on how SBF got bail. One thing he had going for him: Affluent people are more likely to have relatives or close associates with things worth fucking up, who will post those things to be fucked up if the defendant absconds. https://www.serioustrouble.show/ ... https://twitter.com/... @innercitypress : On #FTX / Alameda, here from (scripted) allocution in unsealed guilty plea transcript of Caroline Ellison 2/x https://twitter.com/... @innercitypress : On #FTX / Alameda, here from (scripted) allocution in unsealed guilty plea transcript of Caroline Ellison 6/6 (for now) more on https://www.patreon.com/... https://twitter.com/... Matt Novak / @paleofuture : “In his own plea hearing, Wang said he was ‘directed’ to make changes to the FTX platform's code that he knew would give Alameda special privileges, and that misrepresentations were being made to customers and investors.” https://twitter.com/... Matt Novak / @paleofuture : “She said she and Bankman-Fried agreed to conceal this arrangement from lenders and crafted false financial statements to hide the amount of Alameda's borrowing, including billions in loans made out to FTX executives.” https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... Stéphane Ouellette / @stephofrnt : Can others confirm the veracity of these documents? They seem highly credible - assuming they are, the guilty plea very succinctly and clearly explains the extent of fraud and intent... Don't know how the dwindling Sam proponents can look themselves in the mirror after this... https://twitter.com/... @compound248 : More from the WSJ's report on Caroline and Gary, as well as a link to my tweet that broke down what we learned from the SEC's civil complaint filed earlier this week. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... @goldtelegraph_ : BREAKING NEWS: FORMER ALAMEDA CEO, CAROLINE ELLISON, CONFIRMS THE FIRM BORROWED BILLIONS FROM FTX CUSTOMER DEPOSITS AS PART OF PLEA DEAL Boom. Somebody tell Bill Ackman. @tree_of_alpha : Caroline Ellison said she agreed with Bankman-Fried to hide from FTX's investors, lenders and customers that the hedge fund could borrow unlimited sums from the exchange. Matthew Goldstein / @mattgoldstein26 : Former FTX executives Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang entered their guilty pleas on Monday, Dec. 19. Pleas were not docketed as to not tip off Bankman-Fried and his counsel before he had agreed to extradition and was on a plane back to the U.S. (1) Charles Gasparino / @cgasparino : Scoop: Further indictments expected in the FTX scandal as early as Monday as @SBF_FTX ex girlfriend Caroline Ellison turn evidence against her former lover and others more now @FoxBusiness @compound248 : Sam not too stressed as he flew first class last night back to hang at his parents' house (not even kidding). https://twitter.com/... @compound248 : From a just-released transcript of FTX's Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang in front of a judge. Caroline, “I knew what I did was wrong.” Gary, “I was directed to and agreed to make certain changes to [FTX's] code.” https://twitter.com/... Cate Long / @cate_long : Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison says she and Sam Bankman-Fried knowingly misled FTX lenders: ‘I knew that it was wrong’ [Why keep doing what you know is wrong?] https://fortune.com/... https://twitter.com/... Siraj Hashmi / @sirajahashmi : show me one person who says they wouldn't risk it all for Caroline Ellison, and i'll show you a liar. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/... @qtrresearch : As my plumber would say: “Welp, there's your problem right there” https://twitter.com/... Wu Blockchain / @wublockchain : FTX former CTO Gary Wang said he was “directed” to make changes to the FTX platform's code that he knew would give Alameda special privileges, and that misrepresentations were being made to customers and investors. Wu Blockchain / @wublockchain : She said: “if Alameda's FTX accounts had significant negative balances in any particular currency, it meant that Alameda was borrowing funds that FTX's customers had deposited on the exchange”. @xrpcryptowolf : Caroline Ellison told federal court in New York that she knowingly misled lenders about how much the firm had been borrowing. Ellison said she and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had agreed to hide the arrangement by creating false financial statements 🤡 https://www.theblock.co/... Mike McDonald / @mikemcdonald89 : Quick reminder that next cycle's heroes will be cut from the same cloth! https://twitter.com/... Jeff Clark / @jeffclarkus : Just open fraud & a Ponzi scheme by Alameda Research & FTX run by Sam Bankman-Fried, working together to rip off FTX clients, according to SBF's own girlfriend, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison. Yet Left fell hard for SBF's and Ellison's “effective altruism” https://www.foxbusiness.com/ ... Coffee / @crypto_coffee : They cooked the books But the plan was only half-baked. https://twitter.com/... Coffee / @crypto_coffee : Caroline ruthless in snitching: “We prepared certain quarterly balance sheets that concealed the extent of Alameda's borrowing and the billions of dollars in loans that Alameda had made to FTX executives and to related parties,” Ellison told U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams. https://twitter.com/... Amy Castor / @ahcastor : Bloomberg got hold of the transcripts of Caroline Ellison's and Gary Wang's plea hearings on Dec.19. The two admitted they knew what they were doing was wrong. https://www.bloomberg.com/... Dave Kranzler / @invresdynamics : I would not bet against Hairy Plotter disappearing in the wind. What does he have to lose, especially if it was his parents who posted the 10% down on the bail bond? I just can't believe the court system allowed bail. https://twitter.com/... @innercitypress : Exactly. And the transcripts of the guilty plea allocutions, which were held without any public notice, were kept sealed until today, after SBF was already released on $250 million (mostly unsecured) bail... https://twitter.com/... @lex_node : interesting factoid—the plea agreements were signed December 19th they waited until SBF was in the U.S. to announce them (otherwise he might have been more likely to fight extradition?) https://twitter.com/... @wholemarsblog : Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison apologized for misconduct in the FTX collapse this week, telling a judge she knew her actions were illegal and that she conspired to steal customer funds “I knew what I was doing was wrong” https://www.wsj.com/... Charles Ornstein / @charlesornstein : Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison apologized for misconduct in the FTX collapse this week, telling a judge she knew her actions were illegal https://www.wsj.com/... @watcherguru : JUST IN: Caroline Ellison admits she and SBF agreed to hide that Alameda Research could borrow unlimited assets from FTX. Wu Blockchain / @wublockchain : Caroline Ellison said in court: From 2019 through 2022, Alameda has an unlimited line of credit without being required to post collateral, without having negative balances and without being subject to margin calls on FTX's liquidation protocols. Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.com/... Eric Balchunas / @ericbalchunas : Caroline could end up a hero in all this. If she can get SBF out of first class/parents mansion/headlines etc and into jail it would be hard not to appreciate her for that, and root for a lightened sentence. https://twitter.com/... Philip Lewis / @phil_lewis_ : Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX execs received billions of $ in secret loans from the crypto mogul's Alameda Research, the hedge fund's ex-chief told a judge in her guilty plea https://www.reuters.com/... Frank Giustra / @frank_giustra : Sadly, I suspect there are more of these revelations to come as this entire crypto mania unravels. Why investors are still long this asset class is a mystery to me. This will go down in the history books as the greatest financial scam of all time. https://www.reuters.com/... Tren Griffin / @trengriffin : That she wasn't gonna accept a plea was a bad bet. Bahamas jail a bad bed. Ellison gave her first public account of her actions in a Dec. 19 plea hearing in federal court. “I knew that it was wrong,” she said, according to a transcript of the hearing. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
Reuters
Context & Ripple Effects
Reports before the plea said Ellison had told Alameda staff that she, Bankman-Fried and FTX executives knew customer money had been lent to Alameda. Her federal-court admissions turn that earlier internal disclosure about customer-fund lending into a detailed account of how the borrowing was concealed.
Ellison’s guilty plea places admissions that she and Bankman-Fried misled investors, lenders and customers into the FTX/Alameda case record, directly tying the alleged deception to Alameda’s borrowing.
FTX customers, lenders and investors gain a stated explanation for why Alameda’s access to FTX was materially different from an ordinary collateralized credit arrangement.
Second-order effects
The plea account reinforces the SEC’s investor-fraud case by supplying a cooperating executive’s description of the concealment mechanisms, including false financial statements.
Attention shifts from Alameda’s losses alone to FTX’s internal controls: Gary Wang’s reported code changes and Alameda’s undisclosed credit access become connected parts of the same alleged system.
Third-order effects
If this pattern becomes a defining feature of major crypto failures, exchanges’ relationships with affiliated trading firms will face a legitimacy test centered on segregated customer assets, disclosed credit terms and enforceable internal controls.
The trend: The FTX case is making undisclosed ties between customer-asset platforms and affiliated trading firms a central fault line in crypto’s legitimacy gap.
Over at Serious Trouble, a blog post: How did Sam Bankman-Fried get bail? A lawsplainer on the federal bail system, what terms he got, and how he got them. https://www.serioustrouble.show/ ...
OK - on #FTX / Alameda, here now the unsealed guilty plea transcript of Caroline Ellison - it was held in secret, and not docketed until today, once Bankman-Fried was freed on $250 mln bond. Thread then stories on https://innercitypress.com/ and https://twitter.com/...
That... is not even remotely what caused FTX to collapse. Apparently if you steal billions of dollars the three reporters writing the story about it will blame everything on the person who sold the worthless token before you declare bankruptcy and it goes to zero. https://twitter…
What motivates nytimes to avoid calling this fraud. Its like saying madhoff was ruined by investors all demanding money back at the same time. https://twitter.com/...
I keep seeing “HOW DID SBF GET $250 MILLION??” everywhere and thought I'd clear up the confusion. Sam Bankman-Fried was released on ‘BOND’ not bail. While bail is usually paid in one lump sum of cash — bond packages only require around 10-15% of the total amount to be paid.
This case offers an insight into the world of crypto. Rather than accidental, the fraud and other criminal activities are systemic and intentional. The scaffolding of crypto is designed to defraud. If you still believe in this crap, you need medical attention. https://twitter.com…
On #FTX / Alameda, here from (scripted) allocution in unsealed guilty plea transcript of Caroline Ellison 4/x https://patreon.com/... https://twitter.com/...
We have an essay from @Popehat on how SBF got bail. One thing he had going for him: Affluent people are more likely to have relatives or close associates with things worth fucking up, who will post those things to be fucked up if the defendant absconds. https://www.serioustrouble…
On #FTX / Alameda, here from (scripted) allocution in unsealed guilty plea transcript of Caroline Ellison 6/6 (for now) more on https://www.patreon.com/... https://twitter.com/...
“In his own plea hearing, Wang said he was ‘directed’ to make changes to the FTX platform's code that he knew would give Alameda special privileges, and that misrepresentations were being made to customers and investors.” https://twitter.com/...
“She said she and Bankman-Fried agreed to conceal this arrangement from lenders and crafted false financial statements to hide the amount of Alameda's borrowing, including billions in loans made out to FTX executives.” https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
Can others confirm the veracity of these documents? They seem highly credible - assuming they are, the guilty plea very succinctly and clearly explains the extent of fraud and intent... Don't know how the dwindling Sam proponents can look themselves in the mirror after this... ht…
More from the WSJ's report on Caroline and Gary, as well as a link to my tweet that broke down what we learned from the SEC's civil complaint filed earlier this week. https://twitter.com/... https://twitter.com/...
BREAKING NEWS: FORMER ALAMEDA CEO, CAROLINE ELLISON, CONFIRMS THE FIRM BORROWED BILLIONS FROM FTX CUSTOMER DEPOSITS AS PART OF PLEA DEAL Boom. Somebody tell Bill Ackman.
Reuters: Caroline Ellison said she agreed with Bankman-Fried to hide from FTX's investors, lenders and customers that the hedge fund could borrow unlimited sums from the exchange.
Former FTX executives Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang entered their guilty pleas on Monday, Dec. 19. Pleas were not docketed as to not tip off Bankman-Fried and his counsel before he had agreed to extradition and was on a plane back to the U.S. (1)
Scoop: Further indictments expected in the FTX scandal as early as Monday as @SBF_FTX ex girlfriend Caroline Ellison turn evidence against her former lover and others more now @FoxBusiness
From a just-released transcript of FTX's Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang in front of a judge. Caroline, “I knew what I did was wrong.” Gary, “I was directed to and agreed to make certain changes to [FTX's] code.” https://twitter.com/...
Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison says she and Sam Bankman-Fried knowingly misled FTX lenders: ‘I knew that it was wrong’ [Why keep doing what you know is wrong?] https://fortune.com/... https://twitter.com/...
FTX former CTO Gary Wang said he was “directed” to make changes to the FTX platform's code that he knew would give Alameda special privileges, and that misrepresentations were being made to customers and investors.
She said: “if Alameda's FTX accounts had significant negative balances in any particular currency, it meant that Alameda was borrowing funds that FTX's customers had deposited on the exchange”.
Caroline Ellison told federal court in New York that she knowingly misled lenders about how much the firm had been borrowing. Ellison said she and former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had agreed to hide the arrangement by creating false financial statements 🤡 https://www.theblock.co/…
Just open fraud & a Ponzi scheme by Alameda Research & FTX run by Sam Bankman-Fried, working together to rip off FTX clients, according to SBF's own girlfriend, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison. Yet Left fell hard for SBF's and Ellison's “effective altruism” https://www.foxbusiness.c…
Caroline ruthless in snitching: “We prepared certain quarterly balance sheets that concealed the extent of Alameda's borrowing and the billions of dollars in loans that Alameda had made to FTX executives and to related parties,” Ellison told U.S. District Judge Ronnie Abrams. htt…
Bloomberg got hold of the transcripts of Caroline Ellison's and Gary Wang's plea hearings on Dec.19. The two admitted they knew what they were doing was wrong. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
I would not bet against Hairy Plotter disappearing in the wind. What does he have to lose, especially if it was his parents who posted the 10% down on the bail bond? I just can't believe the court system allowed bail. https://twitter.com/...
Exactly. And the transcripts of the guilty plea allocutions, which were held without any public notice, were kept sealed until today, after SBF was already released on $250 million (mostly unsecured) bail... https://twitter.com/...
interesting factoid—the plea agreements were signed December 19th they waited until SBF was in the U.S. to announce them (otherwise he might have been more likely to fight extradition?) https://twitter.com/...
Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison apologized for misconduct in the FTX collapse this week, telling a judge she knew her actions were illegal and that she conspired to steal customer funds “I knew what I was doing was wrong” https://www.wsj.com/...
Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison apologized for misconduct in the FTX collapse this week, telling a judge she knew her actions were illegal https://www.wsj.com/...
Caroline Ellison said in court: From 2019 through 2022, Alameda has an unlimited line of credit without being required to post collateral, without having negative balances and without being subject to margin calls on FTX's liquidation protocols. Bloomberg https://www.bloomberg.co…
Caroline could end up a hero in all this. If she can get SBF out of first class/parents mansion/headlines etc and into jail it would be hard not to appreciate her for that, and root for a lightened sentence. https://twitter.com/...
Sam Bankman-Fried and other FTX execs received billions of $ in secret loans from the crypto mogul's Alameda Research, the hedge fund's ex-chief told a judge in her guilty plea https://www.reuters.com/...
Sadly, I suspect there are more of these revelations to come as this entire crypto mania unravels. Why investors are still long this asset class is a mystery to me. This will go down in the history books as the greatest financial scam of all time. https://www.reuters.com/...
That she wasn't gonna accept a plea was a bad bet. Bahamas jail a bad bed. Ellison gave her first public account of her actions in a Dec. 19 plea hearing in federal court. “I knew that it was wrong,” she said, according to a transcript of the hearing. https://www.bloomberg.com/..…