FTX fraud case: Caroline Ellison sentenced to two years in prison

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I’m Conway Gittens reporting from the New York Stock Exchange. Here’s what we’re watching today on TheStreet.

Housing is the focus on Wall Street as investors are wary of falling interest rates. Mortgage applications for the week ended Sept. 20 rose 11 percent, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. The mortgage rate on a traditional 30-year fixed loan fell to 6.13%. Meanwhile, new home sales fell 4.7 percent in August, according to Commerce Department data, but rose nearly 10 percent from a year ago. Average sales prices fell to $420,600. And, KB Home posted mixed quarterly results. Earnings missed forecasts, but sales beat analysts’ targets.

Related: Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 25 years in prison

In other news: Caroline Ellison, the ex-girlfriend of infamous FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, whose testimony helped put him behind bars, is set to be jailed.

Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion for her role in the massive fraud that drained the cryptocurrency exchange of $32 billion.

The judge had harsh words for Ellison, telling her that her cooperation in the case cannot be used as a “get out of jail free card.” He told her, “There’s no way you’ll ever do something like that again, I’m sure. But here’s the thing: This was, if not the biggest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country, or anywhere near it.”

Ellison ran Alameda Research, an arm of Bankman-Fried’s crypto empire, and helped it steal $8 billion in client money. She pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of wire fraud and conspiracy, which carried a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison. She will be allowed to remain on bail until she reports to prison in early November.

For his role, Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year sentence.

That will do for your daily briefing. From the New York Stock Exchange, this is Conway Gittens with TheStreet.

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