Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, is now scheduled for release from federal custody on January 21, 2026, according to updated records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons. This new date moves her release up by approximately four weeks from a previously reported February timeline.
Ellison was sentenced in September 2024 to two years in prison for her role in the misuse of customer funds and the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Despite the original sentence, she has served less than half of that time in physical custody. In October 2025, she was transferred out of federal prison and placed into community confinement, which typically includes a halfway house or home confinement. She is currently supervised by a Residential Reentry Management field office in New York City.
The shortened custody period is largely attributed to Ellison's extensive cooperation with federal prosecutors. She served as the key cooperating witness in the criminal case against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted on multiple fraud charges and is now serving a 25-year federal prison sentence. Prosecutors acknowledged that her testimony and cooperation played a central role in securing the conviction.
Although nearing release, Ellison faces long-term professional consequences. On December 19, 2025, she consented to a 10-year ban from serving as an officer or director of any public company or cryptocurrency exchange, severely limiting her ability to participate in regulated financial or crypto-related businesses.
Ellison's release will formally conclude the custodial phase of her sentence, though she remains subject to post-release supervision and regulatory restrictions. Her case remains one of the most prominent examples of cooperation-driven sentence reductions stemming from the FTX collapse. The broader fallout from the FTX case continues to shape regulatory, legal, and compliance discussions across the global crypto industry.
