(FreedomBeacon.com)- Following the arrest of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, the media has turned its attention to finding his ex-girlfriend, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison.
A few days before Bankman’s arrest, Ellison was spotted in a Manhattan coffee shop, leading some to speculate that she is cooperating with the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
After that sighting, it was reported that Ellison hired Stephanie Avakian, a former SEC Enforcement Director, and the law firm WilmerHale to represent her.
Prosecutors have accused Bankman-Fried of engaging in a scheme to defraud FTX customers by misappropriating their deposits to pay for expenses and debts and to make investments on behalf of his hedge fund Alameda Research LLC.
Bankman-Fried also defrauded Alameda lenders by providing false and misleading information about the hedge fund’s condition while attempting to disguise the money he earned from committing wire fraud, prosecutors alleged.
Prosecutors also allege that Bankman-Fried then used the stolen money to make “tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions.”
So far, no charges have been brought against Ellison, despite her status as Alameda’s CEO.
The New York Post attempted to discover Ellison’s whereabouts from her parents, Sara and Glenn Ellison, two MIT economists. But the Ellisons refused to tell the Post anything, however, a neighbor said Ellison hasn’t been home “since around Thanksgiving.”
Former federal prosecutor Moira Penza told the New York Post that it would be in Ellison’s best interest to cooperate with prosecutors in Bankman-Fried’s case. Penza said the prosecutors from the SDNY are known to offer reduced sentencing deals to people “who would otherwise be facing a decade or more in prison” as a way to get their cooperation.
Former SEC lawyer Harold Fischer told the New York Post that Ellison has one of the “greatest incentives to cooperate,” namely that Bankman-Fried would “try to finger her” as a way to absolve himself of responsibility.
