{"investigation":{"slug":"alameda-research","entity_name":"Alameda Research","trust_score":0,"severity_base":null,"score_modifier":-8,"confidence":0.97,"status":"published","content_type":"investigation","summary":"Alameda Research LLC was a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm co-founded in 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried that acted as FTX's main market maker and became the main vehicle for one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. Using a hidden exemption from FTX's liquidation controls and bank accounts that received customer deposits, Alameda took billions of dollars in FTX customer funds (over $8 billion per the CFTC) for trading, venture investments, real estate and political donations. Alameda, FTX and affiliated entities filed for bankruptcy in November 2022; Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and other executives pleaded guilty, and the CFTC obtained a $12.7 billion judgment against FTX and Alameda.","sections":[{"content":"Alameda Research LLC was a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm co-founded in 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried, after his departure from Jane Street Capital, and Tara Mac Aulay (also spelled MacAulay). Accounts differ on the founding month, giving either November 2017 or September 2017. The firm was initially based in Berkeley, California, and moved to Hong Kong in early 2019, around the time Bankman-Fried launched the FTX exchange in April 2019. It operated as a proprietary trading company specialising in cryptocurrency arbitrage, market making, yield farming and volatility trading; in 2018 it reportedly earned an estimated $10–30 million from a bitcoin arbitrage trade between Japan and the United States. Bankman-Fried owned approximately 90 percent of Alameda as of August 2021. Caroline Ellison became co-CEO alongside Sam Trabucco in October 2021 and sole CEO in August 2022 after Trabucco resigned. Alameda presented itself publicly as an independent trading firm, but in practice operated in close coordination with FTX under Bankman-Fried's control.","heading":"Overview and corporate structure","sources":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research","name":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://fortune.com/2022/11/13/sam-bankman-fried-alameda-research-who-is-caroline-ellison/","name":"Fortune: A closer look at Alameda Research and Caroline Ellison","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"medium"},{"content":"Alameda acted as FTX's main market maker and played a significant role in the exchange's growth. According to U.S. federal prosecutors, the CFTC and trial testimony, Alameda received privileges no other FTX customer had. Bankman-Fried directed engineers Gary Wang and Nishad Singh to add a hidden 'allow_negative' flag to FTX's codebase that exempted Alameda's accounts from the overdraft and liquidation checks applied to other users, giving Alameda an undisclosed, effectively unlimited line of credit against FTX's customer asset pool. FTX's post-bankruptcy CEO John J. Ray III described this as a 'secret exemption' from FTX's auto-liquidation protocol. At the time the code change was made, Bankman-Fried publicly stated on Twitter that Alameda's account was 'just like everyone else's.' The Block reported that FTX employees discovered Alameda's backdoor months before the collapse.","heading":"Relationship with FTX and special privileges","sources":[{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research","name":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTX","name":"Wikipedia - FTX","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22","name":"CFTC Charges Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading and Alameda with Fraud and Material Misrepresentations","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://newsletter.mollywhite.net/p/the-fraud-was-in-the-code","name":"The FTX trial, day four: The fraud was in the code (Molly White)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/10/ftx_python_code/","name":"FTX Python code 'allowed' Alameda Research to spend deposits (The Register)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/254916/ftx-employees-discovered-alameda-backdoor-months-before-collapse","name":"FTX employees discovered Alameda's $65 billion backdoor months before collapse (The Block)","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"FTX customers depositing funds were directed to bank accounts owned by Alameda, which commingled those assets with its own trading capital, an arrangement explicitly forbidden by FTX's terms of service. Gary Wang testified at trial that Alameda began drawing on customer funds as early as 2019, the year FTX launched. According to The Wall Street Journal, as reported by CNBC and Wikipedia, Alameda suffered losses in May and June 2022, after which FTX lent it more than half of its customers' funds, with Ellison, Bankman-Fried, Wang and Singh all allegedly aware of the decision; the funds were used in part to repay loans Alameda had taken to make investments.\n\nReports differ on the amount: the CFTC complaint says defendants caused the loss of over $8 billion in FTX customer deposits; trial testimony reported by TechCrunch put misappropriated funds routed through Alameda at roughly $8 to $9 billion; a forensic accountant engaged in the FTX bankruptcy estimated total misuse at about $9 billion; and The Wall Street Journal reported that FTX had lent $10 billion of customer assets to Alameda in 2022.","heading":"Misappropriation of customer funds","sources":[{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22","name":"CFTC Charges Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading and Alameda with Fraud and Material Misrepresentations","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://protos.com/alameda-research-used-customer-funds-as-early-as-2019-gary-wang-testifies/","name":"Alameda Research used customer funds as early as 2019, Gary Wang testifies (Protos)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/11/13/sam-bankman-frieds-alameda-quietly-used-ftx-customer-funds-without-raising-alarm-bells-say-sources.html","name":"CNBC - FTX Customer Funds Report","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research","name":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_FTX","name":"Bankruptcy of FTX - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTX","name":"Wikipedia - FTX","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/16/ftx-execs-blew-through-8b-testimony-reveals-how/","name":"FTX execs blew through $8B — testimony reveals how (TechCrunch)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.lawcommentary.com/articles/forensic-accountant-uncovers-misuse-of-9-billion-in-ftx-customer-funds","name":"Forensic Accountant Uncovers Misuse of $9 Billion in FTX Customer Funds (Law Commentary)","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"According to court filings and trial testimony, the misappropriated funds were spent across several categories. Venture investments included over $500 million in Anthropic, over $1 billion in Genesis Digital Assets (a cryptocurrency mining firm) and $200 million in K5 Global. Political donations funded through Alameda and FTX executives totalled tens of millions of dollars, including $5 million to Future Forward USA in 2020 and large contributions to Guarding Against Pandemics. Endorsement and sponsorship spending included approximately $205 million to rename the Miami Heat's arena FTX Arena, and luxury real estate in the Bahamas was bought with commingled funds.","heading":"Use of misappropriated funds","sources":[{"url":"https://techcrunch.com/2023/10/16/ftx-execs-blew-through-8b-testimony-reveals-how/","name":"FTX execs blew through $8B — testimony reveals how (TechCrunch)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.lawcommentary.com/articles/forensic-accountant-uncovers-misuse-of-9-billion-in-ftx-customer-funds","name":"Forensic Accountant Uncovers Misuse of $9 Billion in FTX Customer Funds (Law Commentary)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/19/how-ftx-founder-sbf-and-friends-quietly-donated-to-political-groups-and-relatives.html","name":"How FTX founder SBF and friends quietly donated to political groups (CNBC)","type":"news_article","credibility":1}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"Leaked financial documents showed Alameda holding $14.6 billion in assets as of June 30, 2022. Its largest single asset was $3.66 billion of 'unlocked FTT' — FTX's own exchange token — plus a further $2.16 billion of 'FTT collateral', out of $5.1 billion worth of FTT in circulation, according to CoinDesk. Critics noted that 'the majority of the net equity in the Alameda business is actually FTX's own centrally controlled and printed-out-of-thin-air token'. The concentration created circular, undisclosed balance-sheet risk, since FTT's value was supported by FTX's own buyback program.","heading":"Balance sheet exposure to FTT","sources":[{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/02/divisions-in-sam-bankman-frieds-crypto-empire-blur-on-his-trading-titan-alamedas-balance-sheet","name":"Divisions in Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Blur on Alameda's Balance Sheet (CoinDesk)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FTX","name":"Wikipedia - FTX","type":"other","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"On November 2, 2022, CoinDesk published the contents of Alameda's balance sheet, raising immediate concerns about the independence and solvency of Alameda and FTX and triggering a spike in withdrawals from FTX. On November 6, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced Binance would sell its FTT holdings; Caroline Ellison publicly offered to buy Zhao's position at $22 per token, but the price continued to fall. Within 72 hours of Binance's announcement, FTX faced approximately $5 billion in withdrawal requests it could not meet. Binance signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX on November 8 and withdrew on November 9, citing mishandled customer funds and regulatory investigations; the value of Alameda reportedly dropped over 90 percent after the problems became public. On November 9, Alameda's website was taken down and Bankman-Fried announced that Alameda would wind down trading. On November 11, 2022, FTX Trading Ltd., Alameda Research LLC and affiliated entities filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware; accounts differ on the number of affiliates, reported as over 100 in some and more than 130 in others. Bankman-Fried resigned as FTX CEO and was replaced by John J. Ray III, who had overseen the Enron bankruptcy.","heading":"Collapse and bankruptcy (November 2022)","sources":[{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/02/divisions-in-sam-bankman-frieds-crypto-empire-blur-on-his-trading-titan-alamedas-balance-sheet","name":"Divisions in Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Blur on Alameda's Balance Sheet (CoinDesk)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/12/the-epic-collapse-of-sam-bankman-frieds-ftx-exchange-a-crypto-markets-timeline","name":"The Epic Collapse of Sam Bankman-Fried's FTX Exchange: A Crypto Markets Timeline (CoinDesk)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_FTX","name":"Bankruptcy of FTX - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research","name":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.theblock.co/post/256106/a-complete-timeline-of-ftx-from-alamedas-spiraling-debt-to-its-dramatic-implosion","name":"A complete timeline of FTX: From Alameda's spiraling debt to its dramatic implosion (The Block)","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"Post-collapse investigations and trial testimony found systemic failures. Alameda and FTX shared executive leadership under Bankman-Fried while presenting as separate, independent businesses; FTX had no independent board and no meaningful financial controls; customer deposits went into Alameda-owned bank accounts without disclosure; and the 'allow_negative' backdoor was unknown to customers and most staff. John J. Ray III stated in a court filing that he had never seen 'such a complete failure of corporate controls' in his decades of restructuring experience.","heading":"Internal controls failures","sources":[{"url":"https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/10/ftx_python_code/","name":"FTX Python code 'allowed' Alameda Research to spend deposits (The Register)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_FTX","name":"Bankruptcy of FTX - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.techtarget.com/whatis/feature/FTX-scam-explained-Everything-you-need-to-know","name":"FTX scam explained: Everything you need to know (TechTarget)","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"high"},{"content":"On December 13, 2022, the CFTC sued Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading Ltd. and Alameda Research LLC in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, charging fraud and material misrepresentations in connection with digital commodity sales; consent orders of judgment on liability were entered against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang in December 2022. The SEC charged Bankman-Fried with defrauding FTX investors the same day. On August 8, 2024, the court entered a consent order against FTX Trading and Alameda Research requiring $12.7 billion in total monetary relief — $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement — which the CFTC described as the largest recovery in its history. The court found that FTX and Alameda made material misrepresentations and omissions to customers, with FTX promoting itself as 'the safest and easiest way to buy and sell crypto' while customer funds were commingled and misappropriated.","heading":"Regulatory actions and penalties","sources":[{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22","name":"CFTC Charges Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading and Alameda with Fraud and Material Misrepresentations","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8938-24","name":"CFTC Obtains $12.7 Billion Judgment Against FTX and Alameda","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.sec.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2022-219","name":"SEC Charges Samuel Bankman-Fried with Defrauding Investors in Crypto Asset Trading Platform FTX","type":"regulatory","credibility":1}],"severity":"critical"},{"content":"Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas on December 12, 2022, at the request of U.S. authorities, and the Department of Justice indicted him on eight counts including wire fraud and conspiracies to commit wire, securities and commodities fraud and money laundering. On November 2, 2023, a federal jury in the Southern District of New York found him guilty on all seven counts presented at trial, nearly a year after his roughly $32 billion FTX–Alameda empire collapsed. On March 28, 2024, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in federal prison and ordered $11 billion in forfeiture.\n\nCaroline Ellison, Alameda's CEO, pleaded guilty on December 18, 2022 to seven counts — two of wire fraud and five of conspiracy covering wire fraud on FTX customers and Alameda lenders, commodities fraud, securities fraud and money laundering. She was the government's main witness at trial; prosecutors called her testimony the 'cornerstone of the trial.' On September 24, 2024 she was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion, and she was released in January 2026 after serving about 14 months. Gary Wang, FTX co-founder and former CTO, pleaded guilty in December 2022 to four counts and was sentenced on November 20, 2024 to time served, three years of supervised release and $11 billion in forfeiture. Nishad Singh, FTX's former director of engineering, who implemented the 'allow_negative' change, pleaded guilty to six counts in February 2023 and was sentenced on October 30, 2024 to time served, three years of supervised release and $11 billion in forfeiture. Ryan Salame, co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, pleaded guilty in September 2023 to conspiracy to defraud the FEC and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business; he did not cooperate and was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison.","heading":"Criminal prosecutions and sentences","sources":[{"url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/samuel-bankman-fried-sentenced-25-years-prison","name":"Samuel Bankman-Fried Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison (DOJ)","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22","name":"CFTC Charges Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading and Alameda with Fraud and Material Misrepresentations","type":"regulatory","credibility":1},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried","name":"Sam Bankman-Fried - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/3/what-to-know-about-the-sam-bankman-fried-trial-verdict","name":"Al Jazeera - SBF Trial Verdict","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Sam_Bankman-Fried","name":"Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried - Wikipedia","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.acfe.com/acfe-insights-blog/blog-detail?s=sam-bankman-fried-sentencing-in-context","name":"ACFE - SBF Sentencing Analysis","type":"research","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/ftx-co-founder-former-ceo-alameda-research-plead-guilty-fraud-rcna62891","name":"FTX co-founder and former CEO at Alameda Research plead guilty to fraud (NBC News)","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/24/sam-bankman-fried-caroline-ellison-sentenced-ftx-.html","name":"Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years for fraud (CNBC)","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/20/ftx-co-founder-gary-wang-avoids-prison-time-for-role-in-crypto-fraud.html","name":"FTX co-founder Gary Wang avoids prison time (CNBC)","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/30/ftxs-nishad-singh-gets-not-jail-time-3-years-supervised-release.html","name":"FTX's Nishad Singh gets no jail time, 3 years supervised release (CNBC)","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://cointelegraph.com/news/ftx-exec-ryan-salame-sentenced-guilty-plea","name":"Former FTX executive Ryan Salame sentenced to 7.5 years (CoinTelegraph)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/01/22/caroline-ellison-former-alameda-and-ftx-executive-released-after-14-months","name":"Caroline Ellison released after 14 months (CoinDesk)","type":"news_article","credibility":2},{"url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Ellison","name":"Wikipedia - Caroline Ellison","type":"other","credibility":2},{"url":"https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/10/30/former-ftx-executive-nishad-singh-spared-prison-for-cooperation","name":"Former FTX executive Nishad Singh spared prison for cooperation (Al Jazeera)","type":"news_article","credibility":1},{"url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/09/07/ex-ftx-executive-ryan-salame-pleads-guilty-to-us-criminal-charges","name":"Ex-FTX Executive Ryan Salame Pleads Guilty to U.S. Criminal Charges (CoinDesk)","type":"news_article","credibility":2}],"severity":"critical"}],"timeline":[{"date":"2017","event":"Alameda Research is co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara Mac Aulay in Berkeley, California, as a quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm (founding month given as November 2017 on one source page and September 2017 on another).","source":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research"},{"date":"2018","event":"Alameda earns an estimated $10–30 million from a bitcoin arbitrage trade between Japan and the United States.","source":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research"},{"date":"2019","event":"Alameda moves its headquarters from California to Hong Kong.","source":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research"},{"date":"2019-04","event":"Bankman-Fried launches the FTX exchange, with Alameda as its main market maker; according to later trial testimony, Alameda began drawing on FTX customer funds as early as this year.","source":"Protos","source_url":"https://protos.com/alameda-research-used-customer-funds-as-early-as-2019-gary-wang-testifies/"},{"date":"2022-05","event":"Alameda suffers a series of losses in May and June 2022, after which FTX reportedly lends it more than half of its customers' funds (Wall Street Journal, via Wikipedia).","source":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research"},{"date":"2022-08","event":"Caroline Ellison becomes sole CEO of Alameda after Sam Trabucco resigns.","source":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research"},{"date":"2022-11","event":"CoinDesk (November 2) publishes Alameda's balance sheet, showing its largest asset is $3.66 billion of FTX's own FTT token.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/02/divisions-in-sam-bankman-frieds-crypto-empire-blur-on-his-trading-titan-alamedas-balance-sheet"},{"date":"2022-11","event":"Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announces Binance will sell its FTT (November 6); Caroline Ellison offers to buy Zhao's FTT at $22 per token, and a run on FTX begins.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/markets/2022/11/12/the-epic-collapse-of-sam-bankman-frieds-ftx-exchange-a-crypto-markets-timeline"},{"date":"2022-11","event":"Binance signs a non-binding letter of intent to acquire FTX (November 8) and then withdraws, citing mishandled customer funds.","source":"Bankruptcy of FTX - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_FTX"},{"date":"2022-11","event":"Alameda's website is taken down and Bankman-Fried announces the firm will wind down trading (November 9).","source":"Alameda Research - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alameda_Research"},{"date":"2022-11","event":"FTX Trading Ltd., Alameda Research LLC and affiliated entities (over 100 or more than 130, by differing accounts) file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware (November 11); Bankman-Fried resigns and John J. Ray III is appointed CEO.","source":"Bankruptcy of FTX - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_FTX"},{"date":"2022-12","event":"Sam Bankman-Fried is arrested in the Bahamas at the request of U.S. authorities.","source":"Sam Bankman-Fried - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Bankman-Fried"},{"date":"2022-12","event":"The CFTC sues Bankman-Fried, FTX and Alameda Research for fraud and material misrepresentations; the DOJ and SEC bring parallel charges the same day.","source":"CFTC","source_url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22"},{"date":"2022-12","event":"Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang plead guilty and agree to cooperate with prosecutors.","source":"NBC News","source_url":"https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/ftx-co-founder-former-ceo-alameda-research-plead-guilty-fraud-rcna62891"},{"date":"2023-02","event":"Nishad Singh pleads guilty to six criminal counts and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors.","source":"Al Jazeera","source_url":"https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2024/10/30/former-ftx-executive-nishad-singh-spared-prison-for-cooperation"},{"date":"2023-09","event":"Ryan Salame pleads guilty to conspiracy to defraud the FEC and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/09/07/ex-ftx-executive-ryan-salame-pleads-guilty-to-us-criminal-charges"},{"date":"2023-11","event":"A federal jury in the Southern District of New York finds Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven counts.","source":"Trial of Sam Bankman-Fried - Wikipedia","source_url":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_Sam_Bankman-Fried"},{"date":"2024-03","event":"Judge Lewis Kaplan sentences Bankman-Fried to 25 years in federal prison and orders $11 billion in forfeiture.","source":"U.S. Department of Justice","source_url":"https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/pr/samuel-bankman-fried-sentenced-25-years-prison"},{"date":"2024-08","event":"The court enters a $12.7 billion consent judgment against FTX Trading and Alameda Research ($8.7 billion restitution, $4 billion disgorgement), the CFTC's largest recovery.","source":"CFTC","source_url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8938-24"},{"date":"2024-09","event":"Caroline Ellison is sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion.","source":"CNBC","source_url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/24/sam-bankman-fried-caroline-ellison-sentenced-ftx-.html"},{"date":"2024-10","event":"Nishad Singh is sentenced to time served, three years of supervised release and $11 billion in forfeiture.","source":"CNBC","source_url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/30/ftxs-nishad-singh-gets-not-jail-time-3-years-supervised-release.html"},{"date":"2024-11","event":"Gary Wang is sentenced to time served, three years of supervised release and $11 billion in forfeiture.","source":"CNBC","source_url":"https://www.cnbc.com/2024/11/20/ftx-co-founder-gary-wang-avoids-prison-time-for-role-in-crypto-fraud.html"},{"date":"2026-01","event":"Caroline Ellison is released after serving about 14 months of her two-year sentence.","source":"CoinDesk","source_url":"https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2026/01/22/caroline-ellison-former-alameda-and-ftx-executive-released-after-14-months"}],"sources_used":[{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22","name":"CFTC Charges Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX Trading and Alameda with Fraud and Material Misrepresentations","type":"regulatory","archive_url":"http://web.archive.org/web/20260525041606/https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8638-22","credibility":1,"archive_timestamp":"2026-05-25T04:16:06+00:00"},{"url":"https://www.cftc.gov/PressRoom/PressReleases/8938-24","name":"CFTC Obtains $12.7 Billion Judgment Against FTX and 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