Caroline Ellison & SBF Accused of Conspiring to Keep Bitcoin Under $20k; FTX's Ellison's To-Do List Aimed to 'Crackdown' on Binance

During Wednesday's trial at FTX, former Alameda Research CEO and ex-girlfriend of SBF, Caroline Ellison, testified that Sam Bankman-Fried conspired to sell Bitcoin deliberately to manipulate prices below $20,000. She revealed that SBF directed Alameda to offload BTC obtained from FTX customer funds in order to stabilize prices.

Caroline Ellison also acknowledged her involvement in improperly using customer deposits to cover Alameda's debts, totaling approximately $10 billion, at SBF's request. This misuse of funds contributed to FTX's collapse when customers sought to withdraw their assets in November 2022.

Furthermore, Ellison disclosed that SBF instructed Alameda to engage in aggressive buying and selling of the native FTX token, FTT, to defend its value when prices dropped. Her testimony directly implicates SBF in the improper use of client funds and markets. She claims that she committed these acts alongside SBF by deceiving lenders.

FTX sought regulatory attention for Binance while being embroiled in one of the largest financial crimes in U.S. history

In Sam Bankman-Fried's ongoing trial, new evidence reveals that FTX actively pursued regulatory intervention against Binance. Testimony during the trial presented a to-do list, authored by Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, indicating FTX's desire to attract regulatory scrutiny to its primary competitor.

The industry widely recognized the competitive relationship between FTX and Binance, two former giants in the digital asset sector. At one point, Binance nearly acquired FTX, which was a significant turning point leading to FTX's downfall.

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