Caroline Ellison, former CEO of bankrupt crypto trading desk Alameda Research, said she felt “dissatisfied and overwhelmed” with her job and strongly doubted her suitability for the role, according to excerpts from her newly leaked online diary.
This excerpt sheds light on much of her inner life prior to the demise of FTX, including her troubled relationship with Sam Bankman Freed (SBF).
Boyfriend Pressure and Impostor Syndrome
according to reports new york times On Thursday, the 27-year-old cryptocurrency executive told SBF in an April 2022 memo that his previous breakup with SBF “has significantly diminished my excitement for Alameda” due to his involvement with the exchange’s founder.
Bankman-Fried founded Alameda in 2017 and promoted Ellison to the co-CEO position alongside Sam Trabucco in 2021. Although Sam didn’t formally control Alameda’s operations, Ellison wrote in February 2022 that he had a “shrinking, quiet, submissive instinct” in Sam’s presence.
Ellison deliberately ghosted Bankman-Fried after the couple broke up multiple times. “I felt like the only way I could regain my strength was by not giving you the contact you wanted,” she wrote in April.
Ellison’s Alameda was one of the few trading desks that appeared to have managed to survive the aftermath of Terra (LUNA)’s May 2022 beating of rival hedge fund Three Arrow Capital.
But, as prosecutors now argue, FTX was responsible for keeping Alameda alive with billions of customer deposits at the time. FTX’s new CEO and bankruptcy attorney, John Ray, has confirmed that FTX and Alameda effectively share a balance sheet.
In April, before Terra’s downfall, Ellison wrote about how she doubted her own abilities, lacking in areas like “leadership” and “decision.”
“Running the Alameda doesn’t feel like something I’m relatively good at or suited for,” she wrote.
Did SBF leak Ellison’s diary?
Shortly after the New York Times published the article, the Justice Department accused the SBF of being responsible for leaking Ellison’s diary to reporters.
The government asked the court to stop Bankman-Fried from releasing any more non-public information that could impede a fair trial.
“Such an order is necessary because the defendant’s extrajudicial comments are highly likely to undermine a fair trial by tarnishing the jury base and withering the testimony of future trial witnesses,” the Justice Department wrote in an article Thursday. filing.
The Justice Department has already charged Bankman-Fried with more than a dozen counts related to financial fraud and campaign finance violations. FTX itself sued SBF and other executives this week to recover more than $1 billion in lost client assets.
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