CFTC Imposes Five-Year Trading Bans on Ex-Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang
Key Takeaways
- •The CFTC imposed five-year trading bans on Caroline Ellison and Zixiao "Gary" Wang as part of civil consent orders.
- •Ellison received a 10-year registration ban, while Wang received an eight-year registration ban.
- •Both former executives must continue cooperating with the CFTC under the settlement terms.
- •The agency said the sanctions reflect their assistance in FTX-related investigations after they were found liable for fraud.
- •The CFTC previously ordered FTX and Alameda to pay $12.7 billion in disgorgement and restitution, its largest recovery on record.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has announced consent orders resolving its civil enforcement cases against former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Zixiao "Gary" Wang, imposing a five-year trading ban on both former crypto executives.
The orders, filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Tuesday, require Ellison and Wang to continue cooperating with the CFTC and bar both from trading for five years. Ellison additionally received a 10-year registration ban, while the commodities regulator imposed an eight-year registration ban on Wang. The two types of sanctions operate differently: the trading bans restrict both from CFTC-regulated markets, while the registration bans bar them from associating with CFTC-registered entities in capacities such as commodity pool operator or commodity trading advisor.
"Ellison and Wang were senior executives who committed fraud at Alameda and FTX for which they were found liable," said CFTC enforcement director David Miller. "Their sanctions, however, reflect their material assistance in the Commission's FTX-related investigations."
The consent orders bring the agency's enforcement actions against Ellison and Wang to a close. Both were named as defendants in the CFTC's initial December 2022 complaint alongside former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried. The commission had previously ordered FTX and Alameda to pay $12.7 billion in disgorgement and restitution to affected users as part of an August 2024 decision — the largest recovery in the CFTC's history.
Ellison and Wang, along with FTX's former engineering director Nishad Singh, were indicted on fraud charges and testified against Bankman-Fried at trial over their roles in misusing customer funds at the now-defunct crypto exchange. Bankman-Fried was found guilty and sentenced to 25 years in prison, while Ellison received a two-year sentence and was granted early release in January. Singh and Wang were each sentenced to time served.
With the cases against Ellison and Wang now resolved on both the civil and criminal fronts, the remaining chapter of the FTX collapse is the wind-down itself: the exchange's bankruptcy estate began distributing repayments to customers in February 2025 under a repayment plan approved the previous October, with subsequent distributions rolling out in phases.
Source: Cointelegraph | CFTC press release
