The Blubber

Caroline Ellison has said SBF directed her to commit crimes.

Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, took the stand as the fifth prosecution witness in Sam Bankman-Fried's six-week trial. She asserted that the ex-FTX CEO instructed her to engage in fraud and money laundering activities.

During her tenure at Alameda, Ellison disclosed that she diverted several billion dollars from customers to invest in other ventures and settle debts with lenders, facilitated by what she described as an "essentially unlimited line of credit."

While Alameda received a total of $14 billion from customers, Ellison testified that they managed to repay some of the funds. Additionally, she admitted to altering balance sheets at Bankman-Fried's direction, presenting a less risky image for Alameda Research to investors and lenders.

Having pleaded guilty to multiple charges and accepted plea agreements, Ellison joined Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of FTX, and Nishad Singh, director of engineering at FTX, who also entered into plea agreements. Wang had been providing testimony in the trial from October 5 until midday on Tuesday.

Ellison revealed that she and Bankman-Fried had an on-and-off dating relationship that spanned several years, originating from their initial meeting when she was an intern at the quantitative trading firm Jane Street.