Caroline Ellison prepared 7 different balance sheets to present to Genesis months before bankruptcy: Inner City Press

Quick Take

  • Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison prepared seven different spreadsheets that displayed Alameda’s balance sheet differently. 
  • Ellison did so at the behest of Sam Bankman-Fried before meeting with Genesis’s co-head of trading and lending, according to her Oct. 11 testimony.  
  • Bankman-Fried apparently chose the balance sheet that did not disclose the $9.9 billion Alameda owed to FTX customers. 

Sam Bankman-Fried allegedly asked Caroline Ellison to come up with different ways to hide the billions in loans on Alameda Research's balance sheets, according to reporting from Inner City Press. 

During Oct. 11 testimonies, the former Alameda Research CEO described what she and Bankman-Fried did before meeting with Matt Ballensweig, co-head of trading and lending at the crypto lender Genesis, who had asked for updated information on Alameda's balance sheet. 

"Sam said don't sent the balance sheet to Genesis," Caroline Ellison was reported as saying. "We were borrowing $10 billion from FTX and we had $5 billion in loans to our own executives and affiliated entities. We thought Genesis might share the info."

"He told me to come up with alternative ways to present the information. He wanted me to conceal things on our balance sheet. So I prepared seven different balance sheets. I did not want to be dishonest but I presented the alternatives to Sam and let him decide," Ellison added. This event occurred on June 19, 2022, according to courtroom testimony. 

Start your day with the most influential events and analysis happening across the digital asset ecosystem.

By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy
By signing-up you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Of the seven alternatives, Bankman-Fried chose to present the version that did not disclose the $9.9 billion owed to FTX customers, with the goal of making Alameda look less risky, Ellison said.

Matt Ballensweig resigned from his position on Sept. 28, 2022, The Block previously reported. By September of 2022, Alameda had borrowed $13 billion in FTX customer funds to repay loans and use as collateral for other debts.

(Updated with Alameda's September 2022 debt figure.)


Disclaimer: The former CEO and majority shareholder of The Block has disclosed a series of loans from former FTX and Alameda founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

© 2023 The Block. All Rights Reserved. This article is provided for informational purposes only. It is not offered or intended to be used as legal, tax, investment, financial, or other advice.

About Author

MK Manoylov has been a reporter for The Block since 2020 — joining just before bitcoin surpassed $20,000 for the first time. Since then, MK has written nearly 1,000 articles for the publication, covering any and all crypto news but with a penchant toward NFT, metaverse, web3 gaming, funding, crime, hack and crypto ecosystem stories. MK holds a graduate degree from New York University's Science, Health and Environmental Reporting Program (SHERP) and has also covered health topics for WebMD and Insider. You can follow MK on X @MManoylov and on LinkedIn.

Editor

To contact the editor of this story:
Tim Copeland at
[email protected]