Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, said during her testimony that Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) had ambitions to become president of the United States.
Caroline Ellison Testifies Against SBF
Ellison, who took the witness stand in US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, stated that during their on-and-off relationship, SBF confided in her that he believed he had a 5% chance of becoming president someday. The former Alameda CEO also stated that SBF aspired to become a major player in business and politics.
While SBF has not publicly revealed intentions to become a politician, he has been a major donor to political parties in the US. Federal prosecutors had accused SBF of using a staggering $100 million of FTX customers’ money to fund political donations as part of his effort to gain influence.
In her latest testimony, Ellison said her ex-boyfriend told her that political donations were a good investment and believed his donations to President Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign helped him gain important recognition.
“He thought it was very effective, that you could get very high returns for relatively small amounts of money,” she said.
Michael Lewis, SBF’s biographer, said recently that the disgraced FTX co-founder considered paying Donald Trump a whopping $5 billion not to run for the 2024 presidential election.
Fraudulent Practices
Aside from the latest revelation of SBF’s political ambition, Ellison revealed some fraudulent activities engineered by both she and SBF on FTX.
Ellison, who pleaded guilty to several federal criminal charges in December, stated that she conspired with SBF and other members of his inner circle to defraud FTX customers.
Ellison said SBF orchestrated Alameda’s misappropriation of $14 billion from FTX. She added that between $10 billion and $20 billion of FTX customers’ funds were moved into Alameda without customers’ knowledge.
“Alameda took several billion dollars from FTX customers and used it to make our own investments and pay off lenders who we owed,” Ellison further stated.
Ellison’s latest testimony was made in SBF’s ongoing criminal trial. The disgraced FTX co-founder is facing seven criminal charges related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
