Sam Bankman-Fried's ex-colleague Caroline Ellison enters courthouse before trial testimony
investing.comBy Luc Cohen and Jody Godoy
NEW YORK (Reuters) — Sam Bankman-Fried's onetime girlfriend and colleague Caroline Ellison entered the federal courthouse in lower Manhattan on Tuesday ahead of her highly-anticipated testimony against the founder of the now-bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
The fifth day of the former crypto mogul's trial on charges of stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits kicked off with defense lawyer Christian Everdell's cross-examination of Gary Wang, the exchange's onetime technology chief.
Everdell asked Wang about a memo Bankman-Fried circulated in September 2022 about whether to shut down Alameda Research, the hedge fund he and Wang owned and that Ellison ran. In the memo, Bankman-Fried called Alameda's failure to hedge its bets a «mistake.»
When Everdell asked if the decision not to hedge was Ellison's, Wang replied that she was Alameda's CEO at the time.
Prosecutors said last week they planned to call Ellison to take the stand once Wang finishes his testimony. She was seen entering the courthouse on Tuesday morning wearing a blue baseball cap and sunglasses, and carrying a blue thermos.
Ellison's testimony as the trial's star witness is likely to delve in to both Alameda's business practices and her personal relationship with the 31-year-old former billionaire, whose lawyers are expected to try to undermine her credibility during cross-examination.
Over the summer, Bankman-Fried shared Ellison's personal writings — in which she described feeling overwhelmed at work and hurt by a recent breakup with Bankman-Fried — with a New York Times reporter. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan said that likely amounted to witness-tampering, and on Aug. 11 revoked Bankman-Fried's bail.
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