Caroline Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research, is scheduled for release from federal custody on Jan. 21, 2026, according to U.S. Federal Bureau of Prisons records. The 31-year-old Ellison has been in community confinement since October 2025, after being transferred from a federal prison in Connecticut, Business Insider reported earlier this month.
Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022 to fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the 2022 collapse of FTX crypto exchange, which resulted in billions of dollars in customer losses. She cooperated with prosecutors and testified against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was later convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison.
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Ellison in September 2024, ordering her to forfeit $11 billion. Ellison began serving a two-year sentence in November 2024, which means her January release would come about 10 months earlier than the full sentence. The former crypto executive’s early release from custody likely reflects credits for good conduct, as she is said to have been cooperative in facilitating investigations into FTX.
In a September filing before the sentencing, John J. Ray III, CEO of the FTX bankruptcy estate, said that Ellison “provided the Debtors with valuable assistance and cooperation, which resulted in the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in Debtor assets for the benefit of creditors.” Earlier this month, Ellison also agreed to a 10-year ban on serving as an officer or director of public companies or cryptocurrency exchanges. She will remain subject to supervised release following her release from custody.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried is actively seeking clemency from the U.S. President Donald Trump, who has pardoned notable figures such as former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. While appealing the conviction, Bankman-Fried claimed that his arrest was political retaliation by the “anti-crypto” Biden administration. According to the BoP website, Bankman-Fried is currently scheduled for release in September 2044.
