FTX Co-CEO’s Release Moved To 2031, Ellison Out By Mid-2026

Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison, former top executives at the now-defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX, have both had their prison sentences reduced, according to updated records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Salame, who was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in federal prison in May 2023 after pleading guilty to criminal fraud charges, is now scheduled for release on March 1, 2031. This represents a reduction of over a year from his initial release date in April 2032.

Salame began serving his sentence in October 2023 at FCI Cumberland in Maryland. The medium-security federal correctional institution houses over 1,000 inmates, according to records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Salame pleaded guilty in September to conspiring to make unlawful political contributions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. His charges are tied to his work with FTX, where he was closely connected to former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research and a key witness against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was initially sentenced to two years after pleading guilty to seven federal fraud and conspiracy counts. Her new release date is listed as July 20, 2026, three months earlier than originally planned. Ellison also cooperated extensively with prosecutors in the case against Bankman-Fried, her former boyfriend.

Since FTX’s collapse in November 2022, Ellison faced massive public attention and harassment, highlighted in a government memo describing her as a target of online memes and media scrutiny. Her surrender marks her as the third executive in the FTX case to face prison time, following sentences for Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets.

Bankman-Fried, who received a 25-year sentence in November 2024 for orchestrating the massive FTX fraud, does not yet have a projected release date listed.

The Federal Bureau of Prisons did not immediately comment on the adjustments. In previous cases, the bureau has stated that early release dates often reflect earned good conduct time (GCT), calculated at up to 54 days per year of the sentence, as well as time credits from participation in approved prison programs.