Caroline Ellison, key witness in FTX fraud case, set to be sentenced
(NEW YORK) — Caroline Ellison, a key witness in the FTX case, is set to be sentenced on Tuesday for her role in one of the largest financial frauds in history.
Ellison, 29, a former crypto executive, had pleaded guilty to multiple charges in connection with the federal fraud and conspiracy case involving the crypto trading platform. She cooperated with prosecutors and was a key witness during the trial last year of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, her former boyfriend.
Ellison — who was the co-chief executive of Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s companion hedge fund — testified over three days during the trial, telling the court that she committed fraud with her former on-again-off-again boyfriend and at his direction.
Bankman-Fried was ultimately found guilty on all counts for defrauding FTX customers out of $8 billion.
Ahead of her sentencing in New York Tuesday afternoon, Ellison’s attorneys urged Judge Lewis Kaplan to be lenient, arguing Ellison “unflinchingly acknowledged her own wrongdoing, without minimization, blame shifting or self-pity.”
“She time and again proved herself an enormously credible and important cooperating witness” against Bankman-Fried, they added.
Federal prosecutors agreed Ellison provided “extraordinary cooperation that was crucial to the Government’s successful prosecution” of Bankman-Fried.
“Although she did not blow the whistle on any misconduct before FTX’s collapse, she came clean prior to FTX’s declaring bankruptcy to her employees on November 9, 2022,” prosecutor Danielle Sassoon wrote in a letter to the judge. “Ellison approached her cooperation with remarkable candor, remorse, and seriousness.”
Ellison faces 110 years in prison, according to court filings.
Prosecutors declined to make a specific sentencing recommendation. Defense attorneys suggested a sentence in line with a recommendation from probation officials of time served plus three years supervised release.
“Caroline poses no risk of recidivism and presents no threat to public safety. It would therefore promote respect for the law to grant leniency in recognition of Caroline’s early disclosure of the crimes, her unmitigated acceptance of responsibility for them, and—most importantly—her extensive cooperation with the government,” defense attorney Anjan Sahni wrote in a letter to the judge.
Sahni outlined Ellison’s “complex” relationship with Bankman-Fried that began when the two met at Jane Street Capital in 2015 when she was an intern and he was a junior trader. He said their “on-again-off-again, sometimes-secret relationship” had “warped” her moral compass and led her to take actions “that she knew to be wrong, helping him steal billions.”
Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison. Judge Kaplan also ordered that he forfeit $11 billion that the government can use to compensate victims.
The former crypto billionaire has filed an appeal to overturn his conviction.
Two former FTX executives who also pleaded guilty in the case — former director of engineering Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang — are set to be sentenced in October and November, respectively.
(PORTLAND, Ore.) — A small, twin-engine plane crashed into a residential neighborhood Saturday in a suburb of Portland, Oregon, killing two people aboard the aircraft and one on the ground, authorities said Sunday.
The Cessna 421C plane slammed into a row of townhouses near Heartwood Circle in Fairview after experiencing mechanical issues, according to a statement from the Gresham Fire Department.
Gresham Fire Chief Scott Lewis confirmed Sunday that the pilot of the aircraft and a single passenger were killed, as well as a resident of one of the townhouses the plane crashed into.
The names of those killed were not released.
The plane crashed near Troutdale Airport around 10:20 a.m. local time, hitting a power pole or tower, which caused a brush fire. The aircraft then crashed into a building of connected townhomes, igniting a fire in two structures, before spreading to a fourth, the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office said at a news conference Saturday.
At least five families have been displaced, with a sixth condo currently being evaluated, according to Lewis.
Two transmission lines from Portland General Electric remained down Saturday afternoon, according to officials.
Fairview is about 15 miles northeast of Portland.
Debris from the crash is scattered across multiple areas, and the sheriff’s office is securing the scene to assist the FAA investigation.
Photos show thick smoke and a burning home after the plane crashed.
The FAA and the National Transportation Safety Board will investigate. The NTSB will be in charge of the investigation and will provide any updates.
(WINDER, Ga.) — Two students and two teachers were killed in a shooting at Apalachee High School in Winder, Georgia, on Wednesday morning, according to the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.
Richard Aspinwall, 39, and Christina Irimie, 53, were the two teachers killed in the incident, officials said at a Wednesday night news briefing. Students Mason Schermerhorn, 14, and Christian Angulo, also 14, were also killed, officials confirmed.
Another nine victims — eight students and one teacher — were taken to hospitals with injuries following the shooting, the GBI said earlier in the day.
The suspect — 14-year-old Colt Gray, a student at Apalachee High School — was encountered by officers within minutes, and he immediately surrendered and was taken into custody, the GBI said. He will be charged with murder and he will be tried as an adult, the GBI said. Gray was set to be booked on Wednesday night, according to an official.
It’s not clear if any of the victims were targeted, authorities said.
Chris Hosey, the director of the GBI, said at Wednesday night’s briefing that an AR-platform-style weapon was used in the incident.
Emergency responders were alerted to the shooting due to teachers having a form of identification that had a type of panic button on it, a law enforcement member said at the news briefing. He added that they had only had those kinds of IDs for “about a week.”
Earlier Wednesday night, the FBI confirmed on X that the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, on an alert from the organization, interviewed Wednesday’s alleged shooting suspect in 2023.
“In May 2023, the FBI’s National Threat Operations Center received several anonymous tips about online threats to commit a school shooting at an unidentified location and time,” the FBI post read. “Within 24 hours, the FBI determined the online post originated in Georgia and the FBI’s Atlanta Field Office referred the information to the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office for action.”
The agency added that the sheriff’s office “located a possible subject, a 13-year-old male, and interviewed him and his father. The father stated he had hunting guns in the house, but the subject did not have unsupervised access to them. The subject denied making the threats online,” the FBI said.
The Jackson County Sheriff’s Office “alerted” schools in the area regarding “monitoring” of the teen, and there was no probable cause for arrest, the FBI said in its post.
“To confirm, the subject referred to as the 13 year old is the same subject in custody related to today’s shootings at Apalachee High School,” the FBI added in a subsequent post.
Apalachee High School is in Barrow County, not far from Jackson County.
Hosey said Wednesday night that law enforcement is aware of previous contact that Family and Children Services had with the family earlier and they are investigating.
He also praised the teachers at the high school as heroes, who prevented a much larger tragedy.
Students and parents speak out
Senior Sergio Caldera, 17, said he was in chemistry class when he heard gunshots.
“My teacher goes and opens the door to see what’s going on. Another teacher comes running in and tells her to close the door because there’s an active shooter,” Caldera told ABC News.
He said his teacher locked the door and the students ran to the back of the room. Caldera said they heard screams from outside as they “huddled up.”
At some point, Caldera said someone pounded on his classroom door and shouted “open up!” multiple times. When the knocking stopped, Caldera said he heard more gunshots and screams.
He said his class later evacuated to the football field.
Kyson Stancion said he was in class when he heard gunshots and “heard police scream, telling somebody, ‘There’s a shooting going on, get down, get back in the classroom.'”
“I was scared because I’ve never been in a school shooting,” he told ABC News.
“Everybody was crying. My teacher tried to keep everybody safe,” he added.
Dad Jonathan Mills said he experienced an “emotional roller coaster” as he and his wife rushed to the school and waited to get a hold of their son, Jayden.
It was “exhilarating” and “overwhelming” to reach Jayden, a junior, and learn he was OK, Mills told ABC News.
Mills, a police officer, said, “Growing up in this area, you don’t expect things like that to happen.”
“I have three children. All three of them go to this cluster of schools, and you never think about that,” he said.
Winder is about 45 miles outside of Atlanta.
Barrow County Schools will be closed through the end of the week, the superintendent said.
Barrow County Sheriff Jud Smith called the shooting “pure evil.”
Among the victims, Northeast Georgia Health System said three people with non-life-threatening gunshot wounds were taken to its hospitals. Five people with symptoms related to anxiety and panic attacks also came to its hospitals, it said.
Leaders react
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris were briefed on the shooting, according to the White House.
“Jill and I are mourning the deaths of those whose lives were cut short due to more senseless gun violence and thinking of all of the survivors whose lives are forever changed,” Biden said in a statement. “Students across the country are learning how to duck and cover instead of how to read and write. We cannot continue to accept this as normal.”
The president highlighted his work to combat gun violence, including signing the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act into law and launching the first White House Office of Gun Violence Prevention. But he stressed that more must be done.
“After decades of inaction, Republicans in Congress must finally say ‘enough is enough’ and work with Democrats to pass common-sense gun safety legislation,” Biden said. “We must ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines once again, require safe storage of firearms, enact universal background checks, and end immunity for gun manufacturers. These measures will not bring those who were tragically killed today back, but it will help prevent more tragic gun violence from ripping more families apart.”
Harris said at a campaign event in New Hampshire, “Our hearts are with all the students, the teachers and their families.”
“This is just a senseless tragedy on top of so many senseless tragedies,” she said. “We have to end this epidemic of gun violence.”
“This is one of the many issues that’s at stake in this election,” Harris said.
“Let us finally pass an assault weapons ban and universal background checks and red flag laws,” she said. “It is a false choice to say you are either in favor of the Second Amendment, or you want to take everyone’s guns away. I am in favor of the Second Amendment, and I know we need reasonable gun safety laws in our country.”
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said he is “heartbroken.”
“This is a day every parent dreads, and Georgians everywhere will hug their children tighter this evening because of this painful event,” he said in a statement. “We continue to work closely with local, state, and federal partners to make any and all resources available to help this community on this incredibly difficult day and in the days to come.”
Kemp canceled a planned speech in front of the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas Wednesday night to fly back to Georgia in the wake of the shooting, a source confirmed to ABC News.
In Atlanta, authorities will “bolster patrols” around schools on Wednesday “out of an abundance of caution,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in a statement.
“My prayers are with the high school students, staff and families affected by the senseless act of violence,” Dickens said.
(NEW YORK) — Kentucky State Police announced Wednesday night that the body discovered in the woods earlier in the day not far from where the I-75 shootings took place is believed to be suspect Joseph Couch.
“There were articles associated with the body that at this time we feel is Joseph Couch,” an official said at an evening news conference.
The coroner’s office will make a final determination, officials said.
Troopers and two citizens found the body together in the vicinity of exit 49 in Laurel County, according to the authorities.
Wednesday was the 12th day of a manhunt for the suspect, who was wanted in connection with an interstate shooting that wounded five people.
Couch was initially named as a person of interest after deputies found his SUV abandoned on a forest road near exit 49, officials said. An AR-15 rifle Couch purchased in the hours before the shooting and investigators believe was used in the incident was also found in the woods near Couch’s vehicle along with a bag with Couch’s name written on it, officials said.
A day after the shooting, Couch was upgraded to the primary suspect.
In addition to searching the national forest, a tip prompted investigators this week to search a home in Laurel County, but found no evidence of Couch having been there, officials said.
Before the interstate shooting, according to the arrest warrant, a Laurel County 911 dispatcher received a call from a woman who alleged Couch texted her before the interstate shooting and “advised he was going to kill a lot of people. Well, try at least.” The text message was sent to the woman at 5:03 p.m. on Sept. 7, about a half-hour before the interstate shooting started, according to the arrest warrant.
“Couch sent another message to [the woman] that read, in part, ‘I’ll kill myself afterwards,'” according to the arrest warrant.
Tuesday’s search for Couch focused on the thick woods of the Daniel Boone National Forest, according to the Kentucky State Police.
Both state and federal teams combed through at least 28,000 acres of the more than 700,000-acre national forest.
Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said additional state resources were being made available to help with the ongoing search efforts.
The manhunt prompted local schools to close for over a week. They reopened Tuesday under heavy police guard.
“We will not live our lives in fear,” Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said during a news conference Tuesday.
The school district said in a statement that the reopening plan “prioritizes the safety of our students and staff.”