Caroline Ellison Moved to Community Confinement; Release Set for Feb 2026

Former Alameda CEO moved from prison to halfway house after serving 11 months of her sentence.

Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and star witness in the prosecution of Sam Bankman-Fried, has been transferred from the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution to community confinement. The Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) confirmed the transfer occurred on October 16, 2025.

Ellison, 31, is now under federal supervision in either a halfway house or home confinement. Her projected release date is February 20, 2026, shaving nearly nine months off the two-year sentence handed down in September 2024.

The Cooperator’s Dividend

Ellison’s early transition highlights the stark disparity between the outcomes for FTX’s cooperating lieutenants and its founder. While Sam Bankman-Fried serves a 25-year sentence at MDC Brooklyn, his former inner circle has largely avoided long-term incarceration through “extraordinary” cooperation.

• Gary Wang (Co-Founder): Sentenced to time served (no prison) in November 2024 after prosecutors credited him with decrypting FTX’s code immediately after the collapse.
• Nishad Singh (Engineering Director): Received time served in October 2024.
• Ryan Salame (Bahamas Co-CEO): The only other executive serving significant time (7.5 years), notably for refusing to testify against Bankman-Fried.

Federal guidelines typically allow non-violent offenders to serve the final portion of their sentence in community confinement to facilitate reintegration. Ellison’s total time in a dedicated prison facility amounted to approximately 11 months.

“I am overwhelmed with remorse for the harm that I participated in and that I caused to so many innocent people,” Caroline Ellison at her sentencing.

The native token of the defunct exchange, FTT, remained flat at $0.54 following the news.