Sam Bankman-Fried encouraged Adderall to use says ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison in bid to avoid prison

Late Tuesday, Ellison’s attorneys filed a 67-page memorandum detailing her cooperation with prosecutors and the FTX bankruptcy estate and asked her to avoid any prison time for her involvement in FTX’s collapse. They also submitted nearly 40 letters of support to her friends and family, along with representatives of the FTX bankruptcy estate, including CEO John Ray.

The memo delves into Ellison’s personal life and history with Bankman-Fried, blaming many of her decisions on his manipulative approach to their relationship. In one case, her lawyers allege, Bankman-Fried convinced her to get a prescription for the amphetamine Adderall, to which Ellison became addicted.

“Reflecting now, Caroline believes this amphetamine use made her more risk-seeking, more focused on the task at hand, but less attentive and reflective,” the attorneys write. “It focused her on completing whatever task Mr. Bankman-Fried gave her and left her less inclined to step back and think about whether the situation made sense.”

From crush to crash

Once valued at more than $30 billion, FTX’s quick flop in November 2022 captured the public’s attention for its larger-than-life characters and eye-popping dollar figures. Much of the fascination focused on the relationships between the close cadre of friends in their late 20s and early 30s who ran the crypto empire, including Bankman-Fried and Ellison, many of whom had met each other. By the time of the trial, they had all turned on Bankman-Fried, whose response included leaking Ellison’s private diary to New York Times.

As CEO of Alameda Research, Ellison played a key role in FTX and admitted to prosecutors that she was aware of — and facilitated — Bankman-Fried’s scheme to funnel billions of dollars of client funds into its own investments, including startups, political donations, and luxury real estate. In her sentencing memo, however, her lawyers argued that much of her poor judgment stemmed from her long-term relationship with Bankman-Fried, which began while they both worked at trading firm Jane Street.

They dated on and off, including while working together at FTX—a ​​fact that Bankman-Fried tried to hide from his employees. In one case, according to Ellison’s lawyers, he proposed to have sex with her while she was seeing someone else, which Ellison refused. Later, her lawyers note, Bankman-Fried denied her the same celebrity lifestyle he enjoyed, telling her he didn’t want to be seen in public with her, including at high-profile events like the Met Gala and the Super Bowl.

A spokesman for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

While the memo is full of sordid details about their relationship, lawyers also criticized the media’s fascination with her personal life, which they say has led to an invasion of her privacy and led to people “panting” her Ellison’s parents and sisters, including revealing their residences on the Internet. Some of the letters in the memo were filed under seal to protect the identities of the people writing in support of her.

In the brief, Ellison’s attorneys note that the Probation Department is recommending a sentence served with three years of supervised release and asking for a non-custodial sentence, meaning one that does not involve prison time. Her hearing is scheduled for September 24, with prosecutors expected to file their response this week.