Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and a central figure in the FTX collapse, is set to leave federal custody on January 21, 2026, according to updated records from the U.S. Bureau of Prisons. The date is nearly four weeks earlier than previously expected and comes after Ellison spent less than half of her two-year prison sentence in physical custody.
Federal records updated in late December 2025 show that Ellison’s release timeline has been moved up from an earlier estimate that pointed to February 2026. While her custodial sentence is nearing its end, her legal and professional consequences are far from over.
Ellison was sentenced in September 2024 for her role in the downfall of crypto exchange FTX, one of the most dramatic collapses in the digital asset industry’s history. Her conviction followed guilty pleas related to fraud and other offenses tied to the misuse of customer funds. At the time, the court imposed a two-year prison term, alongside other penalties.
In October 2025, Ellison was transferred out of federal prison and into community confinement. This form of custody typically includes placement in a halfway house or home confinement. According to Bureau of Prisons data, she is currently overseen by a Residential Reentry Management office based in New York City, where she remains under active supervision.
A major reason for Ellison’s shortened time in custody was her extensive cooperation with federal prosecutors. She served as the key cooperating witness in the criminal case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX. Her testimony played a critical role in securing his conviction on multiple fraud charges. Bankman-Fried is now serving a 25-year federal prison sentence, one of the most severe penalties ever handed down in a crypto-related case.
Prosecutors publicly acknowledged that Ellison’s cooperation was instrumental to the outcome of the trial. In exchange, she received significant sentence reductions, including early placement into community confinement and an accelerated release schedule.
However, Ellison’s freedom will come with lasting restrictions. On December 19, 2025, she formally agreed to a 10-year ban from serving as an officer or director of any public company or cryptocurrency exchange. This prohibition effectively bars her from holding leadership roles in regulated finance and the crypto industry for the next decade.
Even after her January 2026 release, Ellison will remain subject to post-release supervision and ongoing regulatory limitations. Her case has become a high-profile example of how cooperation with authorities can dramatically reduce sentencing outcomes in major financial crime cases.
As the fallout from FTX continues to shape global crypto regulation and compliance discussions, Ellison’s early release underscores the long shadow the scandal still casts over the industry.
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