Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, was reportedly driven by concerns about artificial intelligence (AI), according to a letter submitted to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan by Leila Clark, a former FTX employee and Ellison's friend.
The letter suggests that Ellison's financial motivations were tied to her fears that AI could one day threaten human existence, prompting her to accumulate enough wealth to combat these potential dangers.
"Perhaps because of Caroline's beliefs about AI, she dedicated her life to work in a way I found bewildering. When I met Caroline again in Hong Kong, I saw her infrequently. She was in the office all the time—fourteen hours a day, seven days a week," Clark said.
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Nevertheless, Clark clarified that Ellison's AI fears did not excuse the fraudulent activities she was later convicted of. No specific strategies or plans for addressing AI-related risks were mentioned in the letter, though Clark's account painted Ellison as a person who felt a moral duty to protect the future.
Clark's letter also referred to Ellison's emotional struggles after her breakup with FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. According to Clark, Ellison felt a responsibility to help finance Bankman-Fried's spending despite her personal unhappiness.
Ellison's legal issues started in December 2022 when she pleaded guilty to several charges, including wire fraud, commodities fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. These charges were connected to the misuse of user funds by both FTX and Alameda Research.
As part of her plea deal, Ellison later testified against Bankman-Fried during his trial in October 2023, admitting to falsifying Alameda's financial records to make the company seem less risky than it actually was.
In her court testimony, Ellison also revealed that she had wanted to resign from her position as CEO well before the eventual collapse of FTX. However, she claimed that Bankman-Fried convinced her to stay, arguing that her departure would lead to a loss of investor confidence and trigger a massive withdrawal of funds from Alameda.
Since her court appearances, Ellison has largely stayed out of the public eye.
In other news, FTX will pay Emergent Technologies $14 million as part of a recent agreement; in exchange, Emergent will withdraw claims to over $600 million worth of Robinhood shares.
