Posted on 10/10/2023 6:51:45 PM PDT by thegagline
Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison *** matter-of-factly telling jurors that he bears the blame for deciding to steal billions in FTX customer funds.
“He directed me to commit these crimes,” Ellison said in Manhattan federal court, during her highly-anticipated testimony at a trial where Bankman-Fried faces criminal fraud charges stemming from the November 2022 disappearance of $8 billion from his now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange.
Ellison, 28,***accusing him of being emotionally distant and not devoting enough attention to their relationship during their time living together inside a $35 million Bahamas penthouse.
“There was a general theme that I sort of wanted more from our relationship,” Ellison told jurors. “I sort of felt like he was distant or not paying attention to me.” *** Ellison was then asked whether she committed crimes as the CEO of Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund Alameda – which the feds say stole $8 billion of FTX users’ deposits to pay off lenders.
“Yes,” said Ellison, who has pleaded guilty to her role in the scheme and is testifying in the hopes of receiving a more lenient sentence.
Sassoon asked Ellison to describe Bankman-Fried’s involvement in the alleged scheme.
“He was originally the CEO of Alameda, and after, the owner of Alameda, and he directed me to commit these crimes,” said Ellison, who spoke slowly and clearly during most of her testimony.
Despite their whirlwind romance, Ellison testified that Bankman-Fried did not increase her $200,000 base salary after appointing her to run Alameda as co-chief executive in October 2021 — while the pair were on a “break,” Ellison said.
Ellison did receive a bonus worth $20 million while heading the fund, she testified. But that sum, though staggering, is far less than what Bankman-Fried paid himself and FTX co-founder Gary Wang during the same time period. ***
(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...
Im sure she’s a nice and intelligent girl (/s)but the sex commune still baffles me. You would think a goofy billionaire in the Bahamas would afford a few Miami escorts.
They’re both ugly.
Lock her criminal ass up for 30 years.
Looks like Kamala’s step-daughter.
“He was originally the CEO of Alameda, and after, the owner of Alameda, and he directed me to commit these crimes,” said Ellison, who spoke slowly and clearly during most of her testimony.
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imo, SBF didn’t have the sense to put this fraudulent fund raising scheme together for the dem & DS pols.
I think I read that SBF dad was a political bundler, so need to take a look there
Also some dots connect to gensler who is juggling balls in thecair on how to regulate crypto….. to prevent skams laundering like this
Heads up
Heads up
There’s someone for everyone. A mystery to me though why SBF didn’t indulge his fetish in Miami.
“He directed me to commit these crimes.”
That’s a stupid thing to say on the witness stand, basically “it wasn’t me it was him!”
She should have said, “Sam directed me to move money from X to Y.” That is a statement of fact, not some armchair legal conclusion.
Terrible witness prep by the government.
Probably not relevant.
If the only evidence against him is her word, I’d vote not guilty. She may have stolen the money entirely on her own.
“The Devil made me do it” defense.
So what. You committed the crime.
and the $10MM that went to the FJB, did he give that back??? naaaa...
Agreed, but every time I see her I think of the dwarf that followed Marlon Brando around in “The Island of Doctor Moreau”!
From the various interviews with her....she comes across as awful naïve and juvenile-like.
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