Alameda Research

Alameda Research
Company typePrivate
IndustryQuantitative trading, proprietary trading
FoundedNovember 2017; 7 years ago (2017-11)
Founders
FateFiled for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022
Headquarters
Hong Kong[1]
Key people
Caroline Ellison (CEO)[1]
Websitealameda-research.com

Alameda Research was a cryptocurrency trading firm, co-founded in September 2017 by Sam Bankman-Fried and Tara MacAulay.[2][3] In November 2022, FTX, Alameda's sister cryptocurrency exchange, experienced a solvency crisis, and both FTX and Alameda filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.[4] That same month, anonymous sources told The Wall Street Journal that FTX had lent more than half of its customers' funds to Alameda,[5][1] which was explicitly forbidden by FTX's terms-of-service.[6]

At Bankman-Fried's trial, Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison testified that she was one of Bankman-Fried's main accomplices in channeling FTX customer funds into Alameda's coffers.[7] In December 2022, Ellison pleaded guilty to two counts of wire fraud and five conspiracy counts involving wire, securities and commodities fraud and money laundering, in relation to her activities at Alameda Research and FTX.[8]

  1. ^ a b c Vicky Ge Huang; Alexander Osipovich; Patricia Kowsmann (11 November 2022). "FTX Tapped Into Customer Accounts to Fund Risky Bets, Setting Up Its Downfall". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q115175398. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  2. ^ Brewster, Lucy (14 July 2022). "Bankrupt crypto firm Celsius's biggest creditor linked to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried". Fortune. Retrieved 30 November 2022.
  3. ^ Nicolle, Emily; Irrera, Anna; Griffin, Donal (14 July 2022). "Celsius Bankruptcy Filing Shows Long Reach of FTX's Sam Bankman-Fried". Bloomberg. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  4. ^ Caitlin Ostroff; Vicky Ge Huang; Alexander Gladstone (11 November 2022). "FTX Files for Bankruptcy, CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Resigns". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Wikidata Q115175397. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Salmon, Felix (13 November 2022). "FTX's terms-of-service forbid trading with customer funds". Axios. Retrieved 13 November 2022.
  7. ^ Yaffe-Bellany, David (11 October 2023). "Caroline Ellison Says She and Sam Bankman-Fried Lied for Years". The New York Times.
  8. ^ Yaffe-Bellany, David; Goldstein, Matthew; Weiser, Benjamin (22 December 2022). "Two Executives in Sam Bankman-Fried's Crypto Empire Plead Guilty to Fraud". The New York Times. Retrieved 14 August 2023.