Former American corporate executive Caroline Ellison.
She previously served as CEO of Alameda Research, Sam Bankman-quantitative Fried’s trading firm. Before joining Alameda in 2018, Caroline was a trader at Jane Street’s stock desk.
The recent decline in the cryptocurrency market has put Ellison in the limelight. The leaked financial sheet indicates a connection between Alameda Research and FTX exchanges. In December of 2022, Ellison pleaded guilty to four charges: conspiracy to commit securities fraud, money laundering, and two counts of wire fraud.
Early Life
In November of 1994, MIT economist Glenn Ellison and his wife Sara had a daughter they named Caroline Ellison. Her childhood was spent in the Massachusetts suburbs outside of Boston. Ellison attended Newton North High School as a teen, and in 2011 she competed as a representative of the United States in the International Linguistics Olympiad.
She continued her education at Stanford University, earning a bachelor’s degree in mathematics in 2016. Ellison entered the Putnam Competition while he was a student. Ellison met Sam Bankman-Fried for the first time at the quantitative trading firm Jane Street, where he started working after college.
Ellison joined Alameda Research in March 2018, and by October 2021, she and Sam Trabucco had been promoted to co-CEO. Upon Trabucco’s departure from Alameda Research in August 2022, she took over as the company’s only CEO.
Caroline Ellison’s Net Worth
Net Worth: | $5 Million |
Name: | Caroline Ellison |
Profession: | CEO |
Date of Birth: | September 20, 1994 |
Country: | United States |
Last Updated: | 2022 |
An executive with a $5 million net worth, Caroline Ellison is a notable figure in the business world. Former CEO of cryptocurrency trading firm Alameda Research, Caroline gained notoriety for her controversial actions.
Sam Bankman-Fried, a businessman who has since been disgraced, helped develop Alameda. When Alameda and more than a hundred other crypto-related businesses, most notably Bankman-crypto Fried’s exchange FTX, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in late 2022, she was fired.
Once worth over $30 billion, FTX saw its value completely wiped out as a result of the scandal and is now worth nothing. According to allegations, FTX sent $10 billion in customer funds to Alameda to cover a massive trading loss at the hedge fund.
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Career Beginnings
After Ellison finished college, she immediately dove into the workforce. Between June 2013 and July 2013, she worked as a counselor at MathPath. Ellison then spent the next three months, until August 2014, working as a research assistant at Stanford University.
And she started working as a trader on Jane Street in March 2018, after having joined the company in September 2016. Since July 2021, Caroline has served as the chief executive officer of Alameda Research. SBF, who had worked with Jane Street before, convinced her to switch to Alameda.
Ellison expressed regret for abandoning Jane Street so soon. Ellison joined the Berkeley, California office of the global proprietary trading business Jane Street after completing her education at Stanford. After about a year and a half of working as a junior trader, she was introduced to businessman Sam Bankman-Fried.
Alameda Research
Ellison started working at Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency trading firm formed by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara Mac Aulay, in March 2018. In October 2021, Ellison joined Sam Trabucco as co-CEO of the firm. Ellison became Alameda’s sole CEO after Trabucco stepped down in the summer of 2022.
She was also instrumental in the development of Bankman-cryptocurrency Fried’s exchange and hedge fund, FTX. An unnamed source said in late 2022 that Alameda owed $10 billion to Bankman-FTX, Fried’s which the source claimed had loaned the company money using its customers’ money.
Ellison admitted to the behavior, and she, Bankman-Fried, and FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh were all aware that FTX had stolen customer money and covered up the misappropriation of this information. Here’s an interview with Caroline from a YouTube channel called El Momento that became popular because of some of her remarks, which, in retrospect, seem really ridiculous:
Forbes 30 under 30
Both Caroline and Sam Trabucco, her co-CEO at Alameda, made Forbes’ “30 under 30” list. She was 27 when they met, and he was 29.
Forbes’s laudatory article said that Alameda was earning $3 to $4 million every day and that the company had invested its proceeds in blockchain platforms like Uniswap and Compound, thereby generating even greater returns.
Aftermath
Ellison lost her job as Alameda’s CEO after the company experienced a solvency crisis and financial scandal. As well as that, Alameda, FTX, and over a hundred related entities all filed for Chapter 11 protection.
In December 2022, while vacationing in the Bahamas, Bankman-Fried was apprehended and indicted on many counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy, for his pivotal part in the huge financial mismanagement of FTX.
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Personal Life
It was said that Ellison was seeing Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of the FTX exchange (SBF). They were both Jane Street dealers. To lead Alameda Research, SBF was named CEO in November 2017. Caroline and Sam were reported to be dating after they became good friends at work.