- Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison's plea agreement includes $250,000 bail and an agreement to surrender travel documents.
- Per the deal, Ellison will not be allowed to leave the continental United States and must forfeit proceeds of the crimes.
- FTX cofounder Gary Wang also pleaded guilty to fraud charges in connection to the downfall of the crypto empire.
Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison could receive up to 110 years in prison for her role in the fallout of FTX, the once $32 billion crypto empire started by Sam Bankman-Fried.
Ellison, who oversaw FTX's sister quant trading firm and later pleaded guilty to seven charges including fraud, will not be allowed to leave the continental United States and must give up the proceeds from illicit activities, according to the plea agreement with the US Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York.
The recently unsealed plea agreement says that Ellison must fully cooperate with prosecutors and law enforcement agencies, along with providing evidence and testifying to a grand jury or at a court trial, if asked.
The former exec could still receive criminal tax violations due to commodity and wire fraud charges, and the plea does not guarantee that other agencies won't prosecute Ellison in the future.
A court will need to agree to the plea deal, however, for it to go into effect. Ellison will be permitted bail, if she can pay a $250,000 personal recognizance bond.
A paragraph of the document, which is dated December 18, has been redacted.
FTX cofounder Gary Wang also plead guilty to fraud charges connected to FTX's downfall on Wednesday, according to US attorney Damian Williams.
The US Department of Justice, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission ,and the Securities and Exchange Commission have all announced charges against the two, accusing Ellison of manipulating the price of FTX's exchange token FTT, which Alameda used as collateral for investments.
All three execs "were active participants in a scheme to conceal material information from FTX investors, including through the efforts of Mr. Bankman-Fried and Ms. Ellison to artificially prop up the value of FTT, which served as collateral for undisclosed loans that Alameda took out from FTX pursuant to its undisclosed, and virtually unlimited, line of credit," SEC Deputy Enforcement Director Sanjay Wadhwa said in a statement on Wednesday.
Read the full seven-page plea agreement here.
