SEC Bars Caroline Ellison From Corporate Roles for 10 Years; Wang & Singh Get 8
The SEC proposes a 10-year officer ban for Caroline Ellison and 8-year bans for Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, finalizing the regulatory fallout for FTX’s cooperating witnesses.
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has moved to officially close the regulatory file on FTX’s inner circle. In filings submitted to the Southern District of New York on Friday, the agency proposed final consent judgments banning Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh from serving as officers or directors of public companies for up to a decade.
The settlements, which await court approval, represent the final civil enforcement coda to the 2022 collapse that wiped out $8 billion in customer funds. While the trio has already faced criminal sentencing, with Ellison receiving a two-year prison term in 2024, these civil bars ensure their exclusion from the boardroom long after their release.
The Settlement Details
Unlike the permanent bars often sought in high-profile fraud cases, the SEC agreed to time-limited restrictions, likely crediting the executives’ substantial cooperation against Sam Bankman-Fried. The breakdown of the proposed penalties includes:
- Caroline Ellison (Former Alameda Research CEO): 10-year officer-and-director bar.
- Gary Wang (Former FTX CTO) & Nishad Singh (Former Engineering Director): 8-year officer-and-director bars.
Additionally, all three agreed to five-year conduct-based injunctions and are permanently enjoined from violating antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act. Consistent with standard SEC settlement protocols, the former executives consented to the judgments without admitting or denying the allegations.
Institutional Context
This action formalizes the industry’s distance from the architects of its most damaging scandal. While the criminal courts handled the retribution, restitution orders and prison time, the SEC’s role here is prophylactic, preventing future market access.
Market reaction was virtually nonexistent, confirming the sector has long since moved on. The bankrupt exchange’s native token, FTX Token (FTT), continues to trade as a zombie asset, drifting sideways at $0.61 (-0.4%) with negligible volume.
