Caroline Ellison Plea Agreement: $250,000 Bail, Surrender of Travel Documents, Forfeiture of Assets
Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison will not be allowed to leave the continental United States, and must forfeit any proceeds derived from the commission of the offenses she has been charged with, according to a recently unsealed plea agreement with the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York.
She will also need to pay restitution of an amount determined by the court.
The plea agreement was first obtained by New York's Inner City Press, a publication that covers court proceedings in the city's federal court.
The agreement states that if Ellison fully cooperates with the SDNY's investigation, as well as any other law enforcement agency designated by the office, she won't be further prosecuted criminally except for possible criminal tax violations with regard to the wire and commodity fraud charges that resulted from commingling funds between FTX and Alameda accounts. The deal does not guarantee that other agencies will not pursue prosecution at a later date.
A court would need to agree to the plea deal for it to be in effect.
A paragraph of the document has been redacted, removing information about some of the possible charges.
Ellison will be permitted bail, provided she can provide a $250,000 personal recognizance bond and restrict travel to the continental United States. She will also need to surrender any travel documents she has.
The plea deal also contains language that says if Ellison is not a U.S. citizen, it is very likely that her removal from the U.S. will be mandatory. It is assumed that Ellison is a U.S. national, but it is unclear if she might have abandoned her nationality for a citizenship of convenience for tax reasons, which is a popular trend among some crypto traders living abroad, as the U.S. taxes non-residents.
UPDATE (Dec. 22 08:15 UTC): Adds that a court would need to agree to the plea deal.
