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Caroline Ellison

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Caroline Ellison
BornNovember 1994 (age 29)
EducationStanford University (BS)
Known forEx-CEO of Alameda Research
Parent

Caroline Ellison (born 1994)[2] is an American business executive. She is the former CEO of Alameda Research, a quantitative trading firm founded by Sam Bankman-Fried.[3] According to an anonymous source cited by the Wall Street Journal in November 2022, Alameda Research owed $10 billion to cryptocurrency exchange FTX. The source said FTX had lent the trading firm money from customer funds at FTX.[4][5][3] Ellison was terminated from her position after FTX and Alameda filed for bankruptcy.[6]

Early life and education

Ellison is the daughter of Glenn Ellison, the Gregory K. Palm (1970) Professor of Economics at MIT, who coached her math team when she was a middle schooler,[1][7][8] and Sara Fisher Ellison, also an economist at MIT.[9][10] She grew up in the Boston suburbs.[11] As a high school student, she attended Newton North High School and represented the US in the 2011 International Linguistics Olympiad.[12][13][14] She earned a National Merit Scholarship in 2012.[15] Ellison graduated from Stanford University in 2016 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics.[16][11] While at Stanford, she scored in the top 500 students in the 2013, 2014, and 2015 Putnam Competitions.[17][18][19]

Career

After graduation, Ellison worked for the quantitative trading firm Jane Street where she met Sam Bankman-Fried.[3][11] Ellison spent 19 months as a junior trader at Jane Street.[16]

Ellison joined Alameda Research in March 2018.[16] She became co-CEO along with Sam Trabucco in October 2021.[20] She became the sole CEO of Alameda Research in August 2022 after Trabucco stepped down.[20]

On 6 November 2022, after CoinDesk raised concerns about the balance sheet of Alameda Research and its relationship with FTX, Ellison said that the balance sheet information that had been circulating included only some of Alameda's assets, and that the firm had more than $10 billion of additional assets.[21][22] According to anonymous sources cited by the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times, Ellison was on a video meeting with employees on 9 November 2022 where she admitted that FTX used customer money to help Alameda meet its liabilities and that she, Bankman-Fried, and two other FTX executives, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, were aware of this.[23][24]

Ellison was terminated from her position by John J. Ray III after FTX, Alameda Research and over 100 related companies filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[6]

Personal life

According to former employees of FTX and Alameda, Ellison was romantically involved with co-worker Sam Bankman-Fried, the CEO of FTX.[25][26] She wrote on her Tumblr blog that she had explored polyamory.[27]

Ellison donated money to the FTX Future Fund to fund philanthropic endeavors following the principles of effective altruism.[28]

References

  1. ^ a b "Former head of FTX is not SEC chair's daughter". AP NEWS. 18 November 2022. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  2. ^ "Webb-site Who's Who: positions of Ellison, Caroline (1994-11)". Webb-site Who's Who. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  3. ^ a b c Vicky Ge Huang; Alexander Osipovich; Patricia Kowsmann (11 November 2022). "FTX Tapped Into Customer Accounts to Fund Risky Bets, Setting Up Its Downfall". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q115175398. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  4. ^ Wang, Tracy (11 November 2022). "Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto empire 'was run by a gang of kids in the Bahamas'". Fortune. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  5. ^ Clark, Mitchell (10 November 2022). "FTX reportedly used $10 billion of customer funds to prop up its owner's trading firm". The Verge. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  6. ^ a b Miao, Justin Baer and Hannah. "WSJ News Exclusive | Bankrupt FTX Fires Three of Sam Bankman-Fried's Top Deputies". WSJ. Retrieved 22 November 2022.
  7. ^ "MIT SHASS: News - 2013 - MIT economist Ellison's Hard Math books inspire young students". MIT School of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  8. ^ Ellison, Glenn; Swanson, Ashley (1 May 2010). "The Gender Gap in Secondary School Mathematics at High Achievement Levels: Evidence from the American Mathematics Competitions". Journal of Economic Perspectives. 24 (2): 109–128. doi:10.1257/jep.24.2.109. ISSN 0895-3309. S2CID 51730381.
  9. ^ O'Keefe, Mary. "Newton North Math Prize shout-out!". Math Prize for Girls Community. Retrieved 13 November 2022.[dead link]
  10. ^ "Sara Fisher Ellison | MIT Economics". economics.mit.edu. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  11. ^ a b c Hannah Miao; Justin Baer (20 November 2022). "How Caroline Ellison Found Herself at the Center of the FTX Crypto Collapse". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q115301476. Retrieved 20 November 2022.
  12. ^ "International Linguistics Olympiad participants, 2011". Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  13. ^ "Whiz Kid: Newton North Student Takes on World Competition". Newton, MA Patch. 3 November 2011. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  14. ^ O'Keefe, Mary. "Math and linguistics? Yes, indeed!". Math Prize for Girls Community. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
  15. ^ "Senior awards, scholarship recipients". The Newtonite. 6 June 2012. p. 15. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  16. ^ a b c Butcher, Sarah (10 November 2022). "CEO of Alameda Research is a 28-year-old Harry Potter fan". eFinancialCareers. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  17. ^ "2013 Putnam Competition Results". mathematics.stanford.edu. 8 August 2014. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  18. ^ "2014 Putnam Competition Results". mathematics.stanford.edu. 16 May 2015. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  19. ^ "2015 Putnam Competition Results". mathematics.stanford.edu. 19 May 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2022.
  20. ^ a b Miller, Hannah (24 August 2022). "Alameda Co-CEO Trabucco Steps Down From Crypto Trading Firm". Bloomberg News. Retrieved 15 November 2022.
  21. ^ Lang, Hannah (8 November 2022). "How Binance's plan to buy FTX unfolded in a matter of days". Reuters. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  22. ^ Sigalos, MacKenzie (10 November 2022). "Crypto billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried blames himself for FTX's collapse, admits he 'f---ed up'". CNBC. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  23. ^ Dave Michaels; Elaine Yu; Caitlin Ostroff (12 November 2022). "Alameda, FTX Executives Are Said to Have Known FTX Was Using Customer Funds". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q115184709. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  24. ^ Yaffe-Bellany, David (14 November 2022). "How Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Collapsed". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 November 2022.
  25. ^ Alexander Osipovich; Caitlin Ostroff; Patricia Kowsmann; Angel Au-Yeung; Matt Grossman (19 November 2022). "They Lived Together, Worked Together and Lost Billions Together: Inside Sam Bankman-Fried's Doomed FTX Empire". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q115293164. Retrieved 19 November 2022. He was at times romantically involved with Caroline Ellison, the 28-year-old CEO of his trading firm, Alameda Research, according to former employees.
  26. ^ Varanasi, Lakshmi (11 November 2022). "FTX's crypto empire was reportedly run by a bunch of roommates in the Bahamas who dated each other, according to the news site that helped trigger the company's sudden collapse". Business Insider. Among the named members of Bankman-Fried's inner circle were Caroline Ellison, Alameda's current CEO. Ellison was the only employee CoinDesk singled out for having reportedly dated Bankman-Fried at one point, but no other specific past or present relationships were disclosed.
  27. ^ Hern, Alex (19 November 2022). "Polyamory, penthouses and plenty of loans: inside the crazy world of FTX". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 November 2022.
  28. ^ Albrecht, Leslie (11 November 2022). "Sam Bankman-Fried's philanthropic fund halts donations amid FTX collapse and 'questions about legitimacy'". MarketWatch. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
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