FTX: Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang Plead Guilty to Fraud
Charges have been filed against two former executives of FTX and Alameda Research for their roles in the FTX fraud.
According to an announcement made by United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) Damian Williams, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang have pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges.
As many suspected, the two cooperated with the Justice Department in its investigation of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
The prosecutor said:
“As I said last week, this investigation is ongoing and moving very quickly. I also stated that last week’s announcement would not be our last, and let me it make clear again that today’s one is not either.
[…] I am announcing that the SDNY has filed charges against Caroline Ellison […] and Gary Wang […] regarding their roles in the fraud that contributed to FTX’s bankruptcy.”
Both Ms. Ellison and Mr. Wang have pleaded guilty to these charges, and are cooperating with the SDNY.
Williams also confirmed that Bankman-Fried is now in the custody of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and is “on his way back to the United States”. There, he will be transported directly to the Southern District of New York to appear before a judge “as soon as possible.”
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Williams also used the statement to urge confessions and cooperation from anyone who may have been involved in wrongdoing at FTX or Alameda.
“Now is the time to do so. We are moving fast and our patience is not limitless.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced on Dec. 21 that it had filed charges against Ellison and Wang for their roles in a “multi-year scheme to defraud” FTX investors. The agency added that it is also investigating other violations of securities laws and other entities and individuals related to the misconduct.
The Securities and Exchange Commission noted that both Ellison and Wang are cooperating with the ongoing investigations.
Alexander Stefanov
Reporter at CoinsPress
Alex is Editor-in-Chief of Coinspress and co-founder of Millennial Media Group, with nearly a decade of experience covering financial markets - crypto first, then everything else. It started in 2016 with Bitcoin. Like most people at the time, he didn't fully understand it - so he kept digging. Blockchain, tokenomics, the projects, the cycles. That curiosity never stopped, and eventually pulled him into traditional markets too: equities, commodities, macro. Not because he left crypto behind, but because you can't properly understand one without the other. What drives him is straightforward: he wants to know why something is happening, not just that it's happening. Most market coverage stops at the headline - price up, price down, here's a chart. Alex finds that kind of reporting actively unhelpful. If you walk away from an article without understanding the mechanism behind the move, what did you actually learn? He holds a degree in Tourism from New Bulgarian University - not the most obvious path into financial markets, but markets have a way of pulling in people who are simply too curious to stay out. He has authored over 200 in-depth analyses and more than 10,000 articles across crypto and traditional finance. He still thinks every day in markets teaches him something new. That's probably why he hasn't stopped.
