FTX Execs Caroline Ellison and Ryan Salame Get Prison Time Shortened

Following the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange platform FTX amid fraud convictions, former executives Caroline Ellison and Ryan Salame have had their prison time shortened.

According to a Tuesday (Dec. 26) report from Seeking Alpha, Salame, the former CEO of FTX’s Bahamas subsidiary, started his sentence in October. He was sentenced in May to 7.5 years in federal prison, but his current release date is March 1, 2031, more than a year earlier, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Ellison, who headed FTX’s sister firm Alameda Research, was sentenced in September to two years in prison after pleading guilty in December 2022, and began serving her sentence in November. Her release date on the Federal Bureau of Prisons website is July 20, 2026, three months earlier than initially scheduled.

FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried, however, does not have a scheduled release date on the website.

Bankman-Fried was handed down a 25-year sentence after he was found guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in November 2023, and was convicted of stealing $8 billion from FTX customers, leading to the exchange’s collapse.

Ellison acted as a star witness in the FTX trial, testifying against her on-again, off-again boyfriend Bankman-Fried.

Pointing to Bankman-Fried, Ellison told the court last October: “He was the head of Alameda, then FTX. He directed me to commit these crimes with Gary Wang and Nishad Singh.”

Asked by the prosecution what made her guilty, Ellison replied: “Alameda took several billions of dollars from FTX customers and used it for investments.”

The government’s star witness added that Bankman-Fried “set up the systems and told us to take the money.”

FTX’s customers sought $8 billion, seeking a ruling in June that those forfeited assets do not belong to the failed cryptocurrency exchange’s bankruptcy estate.

That action comes shortly after the estate unveiled a reorganization plan that would give 98% of creditors 118% of their claims — in cash — within 60 days of court approval.

However, PYMNTS reported, the bankruptcy plan disappointed many FTX customers, who argue they missed out on the chance to benefit from a crypto rally as their funds were tied up in the bankruptcy case.

Meanwhile, FTX is continuing its efforts to recover creditor funds.

In November, the company sued former Trump administration official Anthony Scaramucci to recover creditor funds.

The suit was one of several filed by the firm in its efforts to claw back money owed to its creditors, PYMNTS reported at the time. In addition to Scaramucci’s SkyBridge Capital, other defendants include Crypto.com and Fwd.us, a lobbying group backed by Mark Zuckerberg.