Former Alameda Research CEO and star witness Caroline Ellison took the stand today against alleged crypto crook Sam Bankman-Fried, telling a jury that she directed him to commit the crime.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend, who admitted fraud related to the collapse of crypto exchange FTX in December, also told the court that Bankman-Fried was the one who “set up the system to allow Almeida to take the money.” did.”
“He directed me to commit these crimes,” Ellison said in his brief 15-minute appearance before the hearing began for lunch. “Almeida took billions of dollars from FTX customers and used it for investments,” he said.
He further said that Alameda used FTX client funds worth a total of $14 billion, using $10 billion worth of funds to repay its creditors. Ellison said the company was able to repay a portion of the funds borrowed from FTX.
Alameda Research was a trading firm founded by Bankman-Fried. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried defrauded clients by withdrawing money from FTX to make risky trades on Alameda.
Prosecutor Thane Rane said during his opening remarks that Caroline Ellison was named as CEO, but Bankman-Fried was the “decision-maker at Alameda” – and Ellison was really just a “front.”
Alison had a fascination with race science and polygamy, and wrote about such topics on Tumblr as, decrypt previously reported.
Writing in private, Ellison said it was a good thing that the FTX empire collapsed – and admitted that he was not up to the task of running Alameda, according to new York Times.
Bankman-Fried was arrested a month after her crypto giant filed for bankruptcy. FTX, once the most recognized brand in the crypto sphere, quickly and unexpectedly went bankrupt last November.
He now faces seven criminal charges and his trial is expected to last six weeks.
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Source: decrypt.co