SEC Finalizes Long-Term Bans on FTX Insiders, Closing Civil Enforcement Chapter After Exchange’s 2022 Collapse

Regulators Lock in Decade-Long Restrictions as FTX Fallout Continues to Reshape Crypto Oversight

TL;DR

• The SEC moved to finalize civil enforcement actions against former FTX and Alameda executives Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh through consent judgments filed on Dec. 19, 2025.
• Ellison accepted a 10-year officer-and-director ban, while Wang and Singh agreed to eight-year bans, alongside permanent antifraud injunctions.
• The actions mark the SEC’s final civil step in the FTX case, underscoring lasting regulatory consequences beyond shifts in crypto price, crypto price index trends, or coin market cap recovery.

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The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has taken its final civil enforcement step against the inner circle of the failed FTX empire, moving to lock in multi-year leadership bans and permanent antifraud injunctions against three of Sam Bankman-Fried’s closest lieutenants as the agency closes out one of the most consequential cases in crypto history. Court filings made public on December 19 show the SEC seeking approval of final consent judgments involving Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive of Alameda Research, along with former FTX executives Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, effectively barring them from senior roles at public companies for much of the next decade.

Ellison agreed to a 10-year prohibition on serving as an officer or director of any public company, while Wang, FTX’s former chief technology officer, and Singh, its former co-lead engineer, each consented to eight-year bans. All three defendants also accepted permanent injunctions preventing future violations of key antifraud provisions under U.S. securities law, as well as five-year conduct-based restrictions tied to their market activities. The agreements were submitted without admissions or denials of wrongdoing, a standard feature of SEC settlements, and remain subject to approval by a federal judge in the Southern District of New York.

Regulators used the filings to reiterate their view of how deeply embedded the trio was in the mechanics that led to FTX’s collapse. According to the SEC, internal controls at the exchange were systematically overridden, allowing Alameda Research to access customer funds through what the agency described as a virtually unlimited line of credit. Software code created by Wang and Singh allegedly enabled the diversion of customer assets from FTX to Alameda, while Ellison, with knowledge of those arrangements, used the funds to support Alameda’s trading operations. The SEC framed the conduct not as an operational oversight but as a structural failure built into the platform’s design.

The enforcement action lands more than three years after FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, an event that sent shockwaves through global digital asset markets and triggered sharp dislocations in crypto price movements, major crypto price index benchmarks, and overall coin market cap figures. While market metrics have since stabilized and, in some cases, rebounded, the regulatory aftershocks have continued to unfold through courts and enforcement agencies rather than trading screens.

All three executives targeted in the SEC’s final action previously faced criminal charges brought by federal prosecutors. Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison for her role in the fraud and was later released early, while Wang and Singh, both of whom cooperated extensively with authorities, avoided incarceration altogether. Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive of FTX, remains incarcerated following his fraud convictions, leaving the SEC’s latest move focused squarely on closing the civil side of the case rather than pursuing new penalties.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.