The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has officially closed the book on FTX’s cooperating witnesses. In a Litigation Release filed today, the regulator confirmed a 10-year officer-and-director bar for former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, effectively exiling her from public corporate leadership until 2035.
FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former engineering chief Nishad Singh consented to 8-year bars. The settlements, approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, resolve the civil fraud charges stemming from the exchange’s 2022 collapse. The zombie token FTT slid 3% to $0.50 on the news, continuing its irrelevant drift as a memocoin for the bankruptcy estate.
The Final Judgment
While the criminal courts handled the prison time, with Ellison transferred to community confinement in October, the SEC’s focus was on future market access. Beyond the corporate bars, the trio agreed to 5-year “conduct-based injunctions.”
The judgments permanently enjoin them from violating antifraud provisions of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and from participating in the issuance, purchase, offer, or sale of any securities, except for their own personal accounts.
These terms prevent the former executives from launching new crypto ventures or serving on boards, a regulatory guillotine that ensures their cooperation with prosecutors did not buy them a return ticket to the industry.
Institutional Context
This action marks the final regulatory milestone in the FTX saga. With Sam Bankman-Fried serving 25 years and his lieutenants now professionally barred, the SEC has effectively cleared the board. The agency’s enforcement division, led in this matter by Amy Burkart, secured these consents without the defendants admitting or denying the allegations, a standard maneuver to expedite closure.
For market participants, the settlements are a formality. The real liquidity event remains the bankruptcy estate’s payout distribution, which remains separate from today’s civil judgments.
