RegulationAug 19, 2026

CFTC Bans Ellison, Wang for 5 Years, Closes Book on FTX’s $12.7B Case

CFTC consent orders impose 5-year trading bans and no new fines on Ellison, Wang, crediting their help after FTX's $12.7B restitution order.

Daniel Okoro

Policy & Regulation. Daniel reports on how lawmakers

2 min read

CFTC Bans Ellison, Wang for 5 Years, Closes Book on FTX’s $12.7B Case

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has closed its civil cases against former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, imposing five-year trading bans on both without adding any new financial penalties. Supplemental consent orders filed August 19 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York also bar Ellison from registering with the CFTC for 10 years and Wang for 8 years, but both stayed clear of fresh fines — a sign regulators are crediting the pair’s cooperation over their role in one of crypto’s largest frauds.

Bans, Not Bills

The orders require Ellison and Wang to keep cooperating with the CFTC’s ongoing FTX-related investigations. That cooperation clause explains why the sanctions stopped at trading and registration restrictions rather than adding to the massive sums already extracted from the collapsed exchange.

David Miller, the CFTC’s director of enforcement, said in a statement: “Ellison and Wang were senior executives who committed fraud at Alameda and FTX for which they were found liable. Their sanctions, however, reflect their material assistance in the Commission’s FTX-related investigations.” The two were originally named alongside Sam Bankman-Fried in the CFTC’s initial December 2022 complaint.

The $12.7 Billion Backdrop

The consent orders arrive nearly two years after the CFTC ordered FTX and Alameda to pay $12.7 billion in disgorgement and restitution to affected users, a decision handed down in August 2024. That figure remains the anchor of the case: it represents the scale of customer funds misused at the exchange before its November 2022 collapse, and it dwarfs anything the CFTC has since sought from individual defendants.

Ellison and Wang, along with former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh, were indicted on fraud charges and testified against Bankman-Fried at trial over their roles in diverting customer assets. Their courtroom cooperation is now paying off in sentencing and enforcement outcomes alike.

Where the Defendants Stand Now

Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024 and was released from custody in January 2026. Wang received no prison time, was given three years of supervised release, and — like Singh — was credited with time served. Bankman-Fried, by contrast, was sentenced to 25 years and is not due for release until 2044.

Bankman-Fried applied for a presidential pardon in June 2026 after months of lobbying, only to have an appeals court reject his bid to overturn the conviction that same month. The U.S. Senate has since formally recommended against granting him clemency, leaving him the last major FTX figure still fighting for a way out.

For crypto markets, Tuesday’s orders mark a formal close to the CFTC’s civil pursuit of FTX’s inner circle, shifting attention back to whether Bankman-Fried’s own legal options — and the remaining restitution payouts to former FTX users — will produce further headlines in the months ahead.