The CFTC issued additional consent orders on August 19, 2026, against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, imposing a five-year trading ban and registration bans of eight to ten years. The sanctions close the federal agency’s enforcement actions against the two former FTX and Alameda Research executives, confirming the hard-line stance adopted by US regulators in the wake of Sam Bankman-Fried’s exchange collapse.
🔑 Key Takeaways
- Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang face a five-year CFTC trading ban, effective retroactively from December 23, 2022.
- Ellison receives a ten-year registration ban, Wang an eight-year one, expiring in 2032 and 2030 respectively.
- The CFTC waives restitution, disgorgement, and civil penalties, citing the defendants’ substantial cooperation.
- These orders close the CFTC’s enforcement actions, separate from the criminal proceedings concluded in 2024.
- The case follows a wave of crypto sanctions, including the lifetime trading ban imposed on Celsius founder Alexander Mashinsky in June 2026.
The CFTC’s Supplemental Orders
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission formalized on August 19, 2026 the entry into force of supplemental consent orders against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang. The federal regulator imposes a five-year trading ban, retroactive to December 23, 2022, and therefore set to expire on December 22, 2027.
These sanctions are paired with registration bans: ten years for Ellison (expiring December 22, 2032) and eight years for Wang (expiring December 22, 2030). The two former executives had already been permanently barred from violating the anti-fraud provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act and CFTC regulations under initial orders issued by the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
According to the CFTC, these new measures close all of the agency’s enforcement actions against Ellison and Wang. The regulator states it is not seeking, at this stage, any restitution, disgorgement, or civil penalties — a decision explicitly motivated by the defendants’ material cooperation with the investigation and related proceedings, including parallel criminal actions.
« Today’s resolution further underscores the great value this division places on substantial cooperation. Ellison and Wang were senior leaders who engaged in 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. »
David I. Miller, Director of the CFTC Division of Enforcement
Central Roles in the FTX Fraud Scheme
Documents filed by the SEC on December 21, 2022 paint a damning picture of the fraudulent scheme conducted between May 2019 and November 2022. According to the complaint (Civil Action No. 22-cv-10794), Ellison, Wang, and Sam Bankman-Fried, alongside other co-conspirators, defrauded FTX equity investors while also defrauding the exchange’s customers. FTX had raised more than $1.8 billion from investors, including US investors, who purchased equity stakes believing the platform had appropriate controls and risk management measures.
The technical breakdown of roles is particularly revealing. Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of FTX, created and helped create the software code that allowed Alameda Research to divert customer funds from FTX. Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda, used the diverted customer funds to finance the firm’s trading activities.
Ellison is also implicated in automated purchases of FTT tokens across multiple platforms, executed at Bankman-Fried’s direction to inflate the token’s price. This manipulation allowed Alameda to overstate its collateral and borrow even more from external lenders.
Profile of the Two Former Executives
| Detail | Caroline Ellison | Gary Wang |
|---|---|---|
| Date of birth | November 19, 1994 | February 16, 1993 |
| Role | CEO of Alameda Research | Co-founder and CTO of FTX |
| Employment period | March 2018 – November 2022 | Through November 18, 2022 |
| Equity stake | Employee | 10% of Alameda Research |
| Trading ban | 5 years (until Dec. 22, 2027) | 5 years (until Dec. 22, 2027) |
| Registration ban | 10 years (until Dec. 22, 2032) | 8 years (until Dec. 22, 2030) |
Divergent Criminal Outcomes for Ellison and Wang
Both former executives pleaded guilty to multiple criminal charges, including conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, in the proceedings United States v. Ellison and United States v. Wang (Crim. No. 22-cr-673, S.D.N.Y. 2022). The sentences handed down in 2024, however, differ significantly.
Caroline Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September 2024 and released from custody in January 2026. Gary Wang, who also pleaded guilty, received no prison time and was sentenced to three years of supervised release. According to federal prosecutors, this difference reflects the respective scope of their cooperation with investigators.
A forfeiture order of $11.020 billion was issued in the criminal proceedings, for which Ellison and Wang are jointly liable. This amount is part of a broader $12.7 billion financial settlement covering restitution and forfeiture, finalized in August 2024 to compensate victims of the FTX collapse.
A Wider Wave of Crypto Sanctions
The CFTC orders against Ellison and Wang are part of a broader intensification of federal sanctions targeting crypto industry actors. In June 2026, Alexander Mashinsky, founder of the now-defunct Celsius Network, was hit with a lifetime trading ban by the CFTC, following the lending platform’s dramatic 2022 collapse.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the central figure in the FTX case and alleged mastermind of the fraud scheme, is currently serving a prison sentence and is not expected to be released before 2044. In June 2026, he requested a presidential pardon after reportedly attempting to curry favor with President Donald Trump. That same month, an appeals court rejected his bid to challenge his conviction, and the US Senate formally recommended he receive no presidential pardon.
This growing severity defines a US regulatory doctrine now openly hostile to founders of exchanges and DeFi protocols involved in the misappropriation of client funds. The Ellison-Wang precedent, softened by the defendants’ cooperation, still reinforces the weight of the Mashinsky and Bankman-Fried precedents — and signals that the regulator’s grip on the industry is tightening, not loosening.
Conclusion: A Closed Chapter, Lingering Questions
The CFTC’s August 19, 2026 decision formally ends federal action against Ellison and Wang, even though the shadow of FTX’s collapse continues to loom over the industry. The decision not to impose additional civil penalties, justified by the defendants’ cooperation, may come as a surprise in a case of this magnitude — but it is explained by the decisive testimony they delivered against Sam Bankman-Fried.
For victims, the $12.7 billion settlement remains far below the estimated losses, and questions about the actual distribution of forfeited funds remain unresolved. One clear signal, however, has been sent to the markets: rather than softening, the US crypto regulatory apparatus is now leveraging enforceable precedents to oversee a sector still very much under scrutiny.
Sources
- Cryptoast — Affaire FTX : Caroline Ellison et Gary Wang sont interdits de trading pendant 5 ans
- Yahoo Finance — Ex-FTX, Alameda executives face 5-year trading ban
- SEC — Complaint against Ellison and Wang (December 2022)
- Protos — FTX’s Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang hit with five-year trading ban
- CryptoActu — FTX : Ellison et Wang interdits de trading
- CFTC — Press Release 9285-26 (August 19, 2026)
This article is published for informational and educational purposes only. It does not constitute investment advice. Do your own research (DYOR) before making any decision.
