Caroline Ellison could face no jail time for role in FTX collapse
Caroline Ellison, former chief executive officer of Alameda Research LLC, center, arrives at court in New York, US, on Tuesday, Oct. 10, 2023.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Caroline Ellison was the star witness in the criminal case against disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. On Tuesday, she will face her own sentencing.
Ellison’s role in the implosion of the crypto empire run by her former boss and ex-boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried was to lie to investors, help steal billions of dollars from FTX customers, and subsequently re-purpose those funds toward bets and debts accrued at Alameda Research, the digital asset hedge fund she helmed as CEO.
Bankman-Fried and Ellison are both, in the eyes of the U.S. judicial system, guilty of the same crimes.
Two counts of wire fraud, two counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit securities fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering. Those charges carry a statutory maximum sentence of around 110 years, but there’s a sliding scale that takes into account the scope of the crimes and the criminal history of the defendant.
CNBC spoke to former federal prosecutors, trial attorneys and legal experts to get their take on what may be in store for Ellison at Tuesday’s hearing. They agree that Ellison is likely to walk away without any jail time at all.
After a jury of twelve unanimously found Bankman-Fried guilty of all seven criminal charges against him in November, he was sentenced in March to 25 years for his crypto fraud and ordered to pay $11 billion in forfeiture.
Unlike Bankman-Fried, Ellison agreed to a plea deal in December 2022. She pled guilty to all charges against her and spent two years cooperating with the government, regulators and the FTX bankruptcy estate.
Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried continues to deny virtually all criminal wrongdoing and is attempting to get his case retried.
Lawyers for Ellison and Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Government exhibit in the case against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Source: SDNY
No time behind bars
Cooperation with the prosecution in white collar crimes, even in what has been billed as “one of the biggest financial frauds in American history,” goes a long way.
Ellison was the most important of the several insiders who testified for the government, said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Kevin J. O’Brien, who specializes in white-collar criminal defense in New York.
“Because of the closeness of her relationship to Sam, she was able to provide a personal portrait of Bankman-Fried, an elusive character to be sure, that was probably unique in the government’s case,” O’Brien said.
The federal Probation Department has recommended “time served with three years of supervised release” as a credit to Ellison’s “extraordinary cooperation with the government” and “her otherwise unblemished record.”
While District Judge Lewis Kaplan is under no obligation to accept the Probation Department’s recommendation, O’Brien said that, along with some sort of fine, that would be “a fair sentence” because it reflects the “enormous value” of Ellison’s cooperation.
The U.S. legal system tends to favor reduced sentences for those who assist in bringing down higher targets, said Braden Perry, a former senior trial lawyer for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
At most, Perry estimates that Ellison, who is the third executive tied to Bankman-Fried’s enterprise to be sentenced, faces 18 months in prison and three years of supervised release.
Though Ellison was deeply involved in the fraudulent activities, “she did not have the same control or directorial authority as SBF, which will likely influence the judge’s decision about imposing a light sentence,” Perry said.
Encouragement to cooperate
More than likely, Ellison’s conviction will entail several years of supervised release and community service with a slew of attached activity restrictions, such as no trading in both crypto and non-crypto markets or foreign travel, said Yesha Yadav, law professor and Associate Dean at Vanderbilt University.
Unlike Bankman-Fried who has faced public admonition and been portrayed by the government as a recidivist character, Ellison has been praised repeatedly by prosecutors and by new FTX CEO and bankruptcy administrator John Ray III.
“On the stand, she came across as someone who felt guilt and pain at what she had done,” Yadav said.
SBF’s defense team asked for no more than 6.5 years of incarceration, but Kaplan said Ellison’s testimony ultimately proved pivotal to his decision to sentence Bankman-Fried to nearly four times that.
Kaplan also sided with federal prosecutors when he revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail and sent him back to jail for witness tampering after he leaked private diary entries written by Ellison. Kaplan described the leak by Bankman-Fried as one designed to “hurt” and “discredit” Ellison.
Ellison “suffered very public humiliation over the last two years, often with sexist overtones,” Yadav said.
Most judges don’t like sending people to jail who aren’t a threat to harm others in the future, said former federal prosecutor Paul Tuchmann.
“The chance of Ellison ever harming anyone through criminal conduct in the future again are very low,” Tuchmann said.
If Kaplan ends up foregoing jail time in Ellison’s sentence, that could bode well for former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, the co-founder and chief technology officer of FTX. Singh and Wang will be sentenced Oct. 30 and Nov. 20, respectively.
“I do think that if he wants to, Judge Kaplan can ‘afford’ to give all of these people no prison time,” said Tuchmann, adding that “Most judges want to encourage people like that to cooperate, and a sentence of time served and probation is the best way to do that.”
WATCH: Sam Bankman-Fried’s family on sentencing: We are heartbroken and will continue to fight for our son
A pair of new Volvo ECR25 Electric mini excavators are busy breaking up oversize rocks in crushing operations at this Ontario-based mine – and the transition from diesel has been as smooth as their electric motors!
As avid readers of Electrek can probably tell you, the quieting down of commercial job sites carries a number of tangible health and safety benefits to the employers, operators, work crews, and nearby residents – basically everyone who lives and works near them. The simple ability to yell, “Stop!” and be heard can save lives, while the reduced diesel din is always a welcome quality of life improvement to Mrs. Klancnik’s terrier … but if you think constructions sites are loud, wait until you visit your first rock quarry! There, the noise and vibration are constant, and the controlled explosions punctuate the air now and again with extreme emphasis.
It’s into that mess that family-owned Cox Construction in Guelph, Ontario has deployed a pair of 2.5-ton ECR25 Electric excavators to break up some of the oversized rocks that are too big to fit in in Cox’ crushing plants.
“The transition from the diesel machine that we had before to the electric has basically been seamless,” says Brandon Crumbie, a crusher foreman at Cox Construction. “I really like it because there’s less warm-up time. You just hit the key and away you go. It’ll do every job you could ever need.”
What’s more, because most the mine’s crushing and material handling equipment runs on electric power already, switching the excavators from diesel to electric means significantly less downtime to go hunt for diesel. And, because the ECR25 Electric machines run on top of a 600-volt crusher, they can charge from the crusher’s generator.
The latest, second-generation ECR25 Electric excavator offers a 40 kWh lithium-ion battery (up from the original 20) that provides up to 8 hours of continuous runtime. It can be recharged overnight on a 240V L2 connector, or “less than an hour” on a 50 kW DC fast charger.
Electrek’s Take
It’s one thing to know that electric equipment is out there, and quite another to see it in action. With this project, Cox Construction and Volvo CE is setting an example for North American quarry operations and raising the bar (by lowering emissions) for other mine operators across the country.
Volvo CE is preparing to Power Your Ambition at the upcoming CONEXPO-CON/AGG 2026 trade show, and will be hosting a pre-show event in January to hype up its new unveilings. We will for sure be there.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Volvo CE, via Heavy Equipment Guide.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
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Are you wondering what kind of results you’d get if you added a home solar system to your roof? Homeowners are sharing their results online — and the real-world data might surprise you!
In a recent post to r/Solar, a Reddit user going by DontBuyBitcoin shared a screenshot indicating that their newly-installed ~11.5 kW system produced over 1,700 kWh of electricity in October. “Pretty surprised by the production of the system I got,” writes DontBuyBitcoin. “11.48KW. I cant wait to see what JUNE-AUGUST [2026] going to look like 😍 I wish SolarEdge will make their app better looking with more functionality”
Home solar energy chart
Other Redditors were quick to share in the enthusiasm. “Congratulations!!! Great numbers,” wrote LegalNet4337. “We got 1.6 MWh with a 14.45 kW system. East and West facing panels in SoCal.”
That 1,700 kWh is nothing to sneeze at. Based on the current national average electricity price of about $0.17/kWh (in AUG2025), DontBuyBitcoin’s admittedly large-ish system translates to ~$290 of potential savings. In a higher rate state like Illinois, with a projected 2026 kWh rate that’s closer to $0.18/kWh, that’s ~$306/mo.
We expect retail electricity prices to residential customers will average 17 cents per kilowatthour (kWh) nationwide in 2025, a 4% increase over 2024, and then rise to approximately 18 cents/kWh in 2026. This rise continues a trend in which residential electricity prices have increased at an average annual rate of 5% each year since the COVID-19 pandemic. The increase in retail electricity prices this year comes as the cost of natural gas to the electric power sector was up more than 40% in 1H25 compared with a year earlier, with similar year-over-year increases forecast for the remainder of 2025. The average cost of natural gas for power generation in our forecast increases another 17% in 2026.
Those are big numbers, but 11-15 kW rooftop solar systems are big. Significantly bigger, in fact, than the US average, ~6.6 kW in 2024 – but you don’t have to have a big system in order to post big numbers. Superior weather conditions and perfect PV panel placement can also get the job done, as another Redditor found.
“The last 2 days we have had perfect weather here in South Florida and I have been able to get over 30 kWh from a 5 kW system with a 3.8 kW inverter. This is the highest I have seen since getting PTO in September,” wrote Redditor dlewis23, who shared another SolarEdge graph. “I am super happy with seeing over 30 kWh in a single day.”
30 kW/day from home solar
Taken altogether, these real-world snapshots prove that whether it’s a modest 5 kW array or a beefy 10+ kW setup, homeowners out in the real world are seeing meaningful, measurable differences from their home solar installations. And, with retail electricity prices projected to keep on rising through the decade, every kilowatt counts.
Electrek’s Take
When we ran our “Why did you choose to go solar?” survey back in September, only 32.6% of respondents chose, “Lowering my monthly utility bills” as their primary motivation to go solar. That result proved, in my mind, that Electrek readers are just better people than most, and seem to be willing to spend a little more to do something positive for their environment and their community.
That said, wasn’t it no less a thinker than Albert Einstein who said, “Compound interest is the most powerful force in the universe” (Google it.)? And, with a 5% rate hike compounding every year from now until the AI and data center bubbles burst, the impact energy rates may have on all our pocketbooks may be enough to put “Lowering my monthly utility bills” back on top.
If and when that happens: be smart, get several quotes, and understand the difference between buying and leasing your PV system (especially if you plan on selling your home in the foreseeable future).
SOURCES: Reddit, EIA; featured image via Tesla.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
It seems like the writing was already on the wall last week when Volvo moved to make its Luminar-supplied LiDAR system an option – there are now reports that the Swedish car brand is set to ditch LiDAR tech entirely in 2026.
In a recent SEC filing following a missed interest payment on its 2L notes, Luminar confirmed that Volvo’s new ES90 and EX90 flagship models (along with the new Polestar 3) would no longer be offered with LiDAR from Luminar. The move signals a full reversal on the safety tech that had started as standard equipment, then became an option, and is now (according to reports from CarScoops) gone altogether.
In a statement, a Volvo Cars USA spokesperson added the decision was reportedly made, “to limit the company’s supply chain risk exposure, and it is a direct result of Luminar’s failure to meet its contractual obligations to Volvo Cars.”
This is what Luminar had to say about the current, icy state of the two companies’ relationship as of the 31OCT filing:
The Company’s largest customer, Volvo Cars (“Volvo”), has informed us that, beginning in April 2026, Volvo will no longer make our Iris LiDAR standard on its EX90 and ES90 vehicles (although Iris will remain an option). Volvo also informed the Company that it has deferred the decision as to whether to include LiDAR, including Halo (Luminar’s next generation LiDAR under development), in its next generation of vehicles from 2027 to 2029 at the earliest. As a result of these actions, the Company has made a claim against Volvo for significant damages and has suspended further commitments of Iris LiDAR products for Volvo pending resolution of the dispute. The Company is in discussions with Volvo concerning the dispute; however, there can be no assurance that the dispute will be resolved favorably or at all. Furthermore, there can be no guarantee that any claim or litigation against Volvo will be successful or that the Company will be able to recover damages from Volvo.
As a result of the foregoing, the Company is suspending its guidance for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2025.
On November 14, Luminar confirmed that Volvo had terminated its contract altogether, in a blow that could leave Luminar rethinking its long-term future and planning litigation against its biggest ex-customer.
The news follows a host of significant upgrades to the EX90 that include a new, more dependable electronic control module (ECM) and 800V system architecture for faster charging and upgraded ADAS that improves the automatic emergency steering functions and Park Pilot assistant.
Electrek’s Take
You can’t spend years telling everyone you’re miles ahead because you have LiDAR, then ditch LiDAR, and pretend no one is going to call you out on it. They had better hope they don’t up on Mark Rober’s YouTube channel doing a Wile E. Coyote impression (above).
That said, it’ll be interesting to see if ditching the LiDAR has a negative impact there. Or, frankly, whether ditching the LiDAR and its heavy compute loads will actually help mitigate some of the EX90’s niggling software issues. It could go either way, really – and I’m not quite sure which it will be. Let us know which way you think it’ll go in the comments.
SOURCE: Luminar, via SEC filing; featured image by Volvo.
If you’re considering going solar, it’s always a good idea to get quotes from a few installers. To make sure you find a trusted, reliable solar installer near you that offers competitive pricing, check out EnergySage, a free service that makes it easy for you to go solar. It has hundreds of pre-vetted solar installers competing for your business, ensuring you get high-quality solutions and save 20-30% compared to going it alone. Plus, it’s free to use, and you won’t get sales calls until you select an installer and share your phone number with them.
Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.
FTC: We use income earning auto affiliate links. More.
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