The efficiency of Ellison’s testimony towards Bankman-Fried can even have gone a protracted option to convincing the choose to indicate leniency, says Paul Tuchmann, a former US prosecutor and associate on the regulation agency Wiggin and Dana.
Testifying at Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial in October 2023, Ellison depicted her former paramour because the driving pressure behind the FTX fraud. On the stand, she painted Bankman-Fried as forceful and calculating and described for the jury his numerous deceptions, the cautious curation of his public picture, and his warped relationship with threat. Bankman-Fried “was completely snug with taking a threat, so long as he thought it was a constructive anticipated worth,” mentioned Ellison, below examination by the prosecution. “He talked about being prepared to take giant coin flips, like a coin flip the place if it comes up tails, you may lose $10 million, but when it comes up heads, you make barely greater than $10 million.”
Ellison cried on the stand as she recalled her “state of dread,” racked with guilt in regards to the stolen funds, and the perverse aid she felt when FTX started to crumble. “It’s one thing that had been on my thoughts on daily basis, worrying about what would occur when the reality lastly got here out,” mentioned Ellison. “I felt a way of aid that I didn’t should lie anymore.”
“In circumstances like this, it’s often so vital to the prosecution to have somebody who’s near the lead defendant you are attempting, who can take the jury inside,” says Tuchmann. “She was an immensely useful witness in an immensely vital case.”
The choose took that cooperation under consideration. “I’ve seen a whole lot of cooperators in 30 years. I’ve by no means seen one like Ms. Ellison,” mentioned Kaplan. It was “exceptional” that there was “not one occasion” the place Ellison’s testimony and interviews with regulation enforcement differed from the fabric proof within the case, he mentioned.
The associated fee to Ellison possible additionally performed a task within the choose’s leniency. “On this case, you had what was near harassment [of Ellison] due to the very great amount of press protection of the case. You then had the truth that her private, romantic life was revealed to the world—which might be very painful for anyone,” says Tuchmann. “You will get extra credit score if the cooperation has penalties. The results to her had been nice.”
As Ellison prepares to start her time behind bars, different members of the FTX internal circle await their very own sentences. Former FTX executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, each of whom have pleaded responsible to fraud, shall be sentenced on October 30 and November 20, respectively.
In the meantime, in a bid to flee his personal prolonged jail sentence, Bankman-Fried is pushing for a retrial. “Sam Bankman-Fried was by no means presumed harmless … He was presumed responsible by the choose who presided over his trial,” wrote his attorneys in a submitting within the US Courtroom of Appeals. However the possibilities of the conviction being overturned are slim, and the choice to combat the fees towards him to the bitter finish—in distinction to Ellison and the opposite coconspirators—might proceed to show an unfruitful one.
“Kaplan is a extremely revered choose, significantly in complicated white-collar circumstances. The theme of the transient—that he bought all of it improper—is a really onerous argument to make,” says Naftalis. “The enchantment is a protracted shot.”
As folks filed out of the courtroom on Tuesday, Ellison’s two youthful sisters had been visibly, however silently, crying subsequent to their dad and mom. One in every of Ellison’s attorneys touched her again to consolation her. Ellison didn’t transfer.
Further reporting by Caroline Haskins.
