Former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison reported to federal prison earlier this month to serve a two-year sentence over her role in the massive multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme that led to the collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried’s business empire.
And it appears that Ellison — the ex-girlfriend of Bankman-Fried, the FTX and Alameda Research founder — has already had her release date moved up.
Ellison, who was the CEO of Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research cryptocurrency hedge fund, began her prison sentence at the low-security Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut on November 7.
Federal Bureau of Prisons records viewed by Business Insider this week show Ellison’s prison release date as scheduled for July 20, 2026 — which is more than three months short of two years.
Ellison’s attorneys declined to comment for this story. A Bureau of Prisons spokesperson told BI the agency does not comment on the confinement conditions of any person in custody, including release plans, but said that incarcerated individuals can earn time off their sentence for good behavior under the 2018 First Step Act.
“Every incarcerated individual earns Good Conduct Time (GCT), which is projected on their release date,” the spokesman told BI in an email, explaining that under the FSA “qualifying individuals will be eligible to earn up to 54 days of GCT time for each year of the sentence imposed by the court.”
In accordance with federal law, the Bureau of Prisons “continues to pro-rate the amount of GCT time earned for the final year of service of the sentence,” the spokesman said.
Ellison, 30, was sentenced in September after she previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with Bankman-Fried in the $11 billion fraud scheme.
She served as the star witness in Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, testifying how the pair used Alameda Research to invest billions of dollars worth of assets secretly siphoned from customers of FTX, the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Bankman-Fried controlled.
During Ellison’s sentencing hearing, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan praised her for cooperating in the prosecution of Bankman-Fried, but said that he could not let her off scot-free.
“You’re a very strong person in some ways. But you’re not inviolable,” Kaplan told Ellison at the time. “Somehow, for some reason — it’s hard for me to understand — Mr. Bankman-Fried had your kryptonite.”
“You were vulnerable, and you were exploited,” Kaplan said.
Ellison’s lawyers had asked that the judge not give her any time behind bars because of her cooperation with the government, and prosecutors also commended cooperation.
However, Kaplan said at Ellison’s sentencing, “For it to be a case this serious, to be a literal get-out-of-jail-free card — I cannot see a way to it.”
While holding back tears, Ellison delivered an apology before Kaplan sentenced her, expressing regret for participating 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.”
In March, Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
Bankman-Fried, 32, remains behind bars at the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as he appeals his conviction. Sean “Diddy” Combs is also being housed at the notorious lock-up.
A source told BI in September that Bankman-Fried and Combs were bunking in the same dormitory.
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