SEC seeks multi-year officer, director bans for former Alameda CEO Ellison and former FTX execs Wang and Singh

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is looking to bar former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh from being officers or directors of any public company for several years.

In a litigation release posted on Friday, the SEC stated that it had proposed "final consent judgments" in the Southern District of New York involving Ellison, former FTX Chief Technology Officer Wang, and FTX's former co-lead engineer Singh.

"Without denying the Commission’s allegations, Ellison, Wang, and Singh consented to the entry of final judgments, subject to court approval, in which they agreed to be permanently enjoined from violating the antifraud provisions of Section 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 thereunder and Section 17(a) of the Securities Act of 1933, and to 5-year conduct-based injunctions," the SEC said.

Ellison agreed to a "10-year officer-and-director bar," while Wang and Singh agreed to an eight-year bar.

FTX collapsed in November 2022 after filing for bankruptcy following a liquidity crisis and fraud allegations. Alameda Research, a trading firm with close ties to FTX, also fell.

The SEC previously charged Ellison, Singh, and Wang with defrauding investors and said both were actively involved in a scheme to deceive FTX investors. The agencies said Wang and Singh created the crypto exchange's software code that allowed Alameda Research to redirect FTX customer funds that then Ellison used for Alameda's trading.

In those charges, the three agreed to a "bifurcated settlement," which included an officer and director bar.

All three were also charged criminally and were sentenced. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried received the longest prison sentence of nearly 25 years after being found guilty of seven criminal counts, including two counts each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as several counts of conspiracy to commit securities and commodities fraud, among other criminal acts.

Singh and Wang were given no prison time, and Ellison was sentenced to two years for their role in the collapse of FTX.