The SEC has completed a civil settlement against three former senior executives of FTX and Alameda Research.
The ruling officially concludes a major chapter in the regulator’s case related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchanges.
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Sam Bankman Freed’s colleague banned for 10 years
In a statement released on December 18, the SEC announced that it had filed a proposed final consent decree against former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX’s former chief technology officer Gary Wang, and FTX’s former co-principal engineer Nishad Singh.
The judgment requires court approval.
The SEC found that FTX raised more than $1.8 billion from investors by promoting itself as a secure trading platform with strong protection for customer assets.
Investors were also told that Alameda Research was being operated like any other customer on the exchange. However, those claims were false.
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In fact, FTX had secretly given special privileges to Alameda. The trading company was exempted from risk management and granted a virtually unlimited line of credit backed by FTX customer deposits.
This allowed Caroline Ellison to borrow and lose billions of dollars without facing liquidation.
Regulators allege that Wang and Singh constructed software code that allowed them to divert customer funds from FTX to Alameda.
Mr. Ellison, who ran Alameda, used the money for trading, venture investments and loans to executives including Sam Bankman Freed, Mr. Wang and Mr. Singh.
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Without admitting or denying the charges, all three executives agreed to a permanent injunction prohibiting them from violating key anti-fraud provisions of U.S. securities laws. They also accepted additional restrictions on their future professional roles.
Mr. Ellison agreed to a 10-year ban from serving as an officer or director of a public company.
Mr. Wang and Mr. Singh agreed to an eight-year suspension as officers and directors, respectively.
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All three companies are subject to five-year conduct injunctions that allow the SEC to act quickly if they improperly resume securities-related activities.
Disposal status as of December 2025
As of December 2025, Caroline Ellison has been transferred to home confinement. Her release is scheduled for early 2026.
FTX’s former CTO and co-founder Gary Wang was sentenced to prison after cooperating extensively with federal prosecutors. He is currently on supervised release.
FTX’s former co-principal engineer Nishad Singh also received a prison sentence and remains on supervised release.
