KEY POINTS
- Alameda Research had around $1 billion in frozen funds
- The funds were in Houbi and OKX crypto exchange platforms and were frozen when Chinese authorities conducted money laundering investigation in 2021
- Ellison revealed they paid $150 million to bribe Chinese officials to unfreeze the accounts
Caroline Ellison proved on her second day on the stand that she was the star witness of the government, when she dropped explosive allegations against Sam Bankman-Fried, including bribing Chinese officials and using Thai sex workers’ identities to gain access to frozen crypto.
Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and Bankman-Fried ex-girlfriend, wept on the witness stand toward the end of her second day of testifying against the crypto mogul, who was once regarded as the “golden boy of crypto.”
And while the soft-spoken crypto executive shared that she felt “relief” when Alameda Research and FTX started to unravel in November 2022, she also revealed interesting details, particularly about how Bankman-Fried concocted a plan to use the identities of Thai sex workers to gain access to around $1 billion in frozen crypto on cryptocurrency exchanges Houbi and OKX.
The funds were frozen after the money laundering investigation conducted by Chinese authorities.
Ellison revealed they paid $150 million to bribe Chinese officials; however, before that, they attempted to hire a local lawyer in China, who could help them in negotiating with the government.
But, when the lawyers’ attempts were unsuccessful, Ellison said Bankman-Fried devised a plan to use the wallets of other people to access the frozen funds, which included Thai sex workers.
“On OKX, we made several accounts using the IDs of different people who I believe were Thai prostitutes, and we tried to basically have our main account lose money and have those other accounts make money, so do very imbalanced trades between the two accounts so those other accounts would be able to make money and withdraw it,” the 28-year-old former Wall Street trader disclosed.
AUSA: What does this say?
Ellison: “Sam Bankman-Fried set the disappearing message time for 1 week.”
AUSA: Did you speak in coded terms?
Ellison: Yes. When we gave a large bribe to China – our accounts were frozen in a money laundering investigation.— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 11, 2023
When further asked how the accounts were unfrozen, Ellison said she thought it was when Alameda Research paid the bribe.
Ellison’s voice trembled during Wednesday’s testimony, and while she shared she “felt a sense of relief that I didn’t have to lie anymore,” she cracked when she recalled a text exchange between her and Bankman-Fried which she described as the “overall worst week of my life.”
Ellison said she “felt indescribably bad about all the … people that lost their jobs … [and the] people that trusted us that we had betrayed.”
Oh, she has to (come back tomorrow) – now for cross examination by Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Mark Cohen, which began a big slow and disorganized at the end of today’s session. We’ll see tomorrow – I aim to be live tweeting it, starting at 9:30 am https://t.co/mUdG7ST2qm
— Inner City Press (@innercitypress) October 12, 2023
While this was happening, Bankman-Fried, the defendant, was seen typing on his laptop issued by the court, and did not bother to look up as Ellison wept.
The former Alameda Research CEO is set to return Thursday for a cross-examination from Mark Cohen, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer.
