The efficiency of Ellison’s testimony towards Bankman-Fried can even have gone an extended approach to convincing the choose to point out leniency, says Paul Tuchmann, a former US prosecutor and accomplice on the legislation agency Wiggin and Dana.
Testifying at Bankman-Fried’s legal trial in October 2023, Ellison depicted her former paramour because the driving drive behind the FTX fraud. On the stand, she painted Bankman-Fried as forceful and calculating and described for the jury his varied 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, beneath examination by the prosecution. “He talked about being prepared to take massive 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 reduction she felt when FTX started to crumble. “It’s one thing that had been on my thoughts daily, worrying about what would occur when the reality lastly got here out,” mentioned Ellison. “I felt a way of reduction that I didn’t need to lie anymore.”
“In instances 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 priceless witness in an immensely vital case.”
The choose took that cooperation into consideration. “I’ve seen lots of cooperators in 30 years. I’ve by no means seen one like Ms. Ellison,” mentioned Kaplan. It was “outstanding” that there was “not one occasion” the place Ellison’s testimony and interviews with legislation enforcement differed from the fabric proof within the case, he mentioned.
The price to Ellison doubtless 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. Then you definitely 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 implications to her had been nice.”
As Ellison prepares to start her time behind bars, different members of the FTX interior circle await their very own sentences. Former FTX executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, each of whom have pleaded responsible to fraud, will probably 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 legal professionals in a submitting within the US Courtroom of Appeals. However the possibilities of the conviction being overturned are slim, and the choice to struggle the costs 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 instances. The theme of the temporary—that he obtained all of it flawed—is a really laborious argument to make,” says Naftalis. “The enchantment is an extended shot.”
As individuals filed out of the courtroom on Tuesday, Ellison’s two youthful sisters had been visibly, however silently, crying subsequent to their mother and father. Certainly one of Ellison’s legal professionals touched her again to consolation her. Ellison didn’t transfer.
Further reporting by Caroline Haskins.
