“I completely understand why people may not want to work with me,” said Austin Chen, CEO of Manifund, which now employs Caroline Ellison in a full-time capacity.
Ellison, who infamously ran Alameda Research—a crypto-investment firm co-founded by Sam Bankman-Fried—while dating the disgraced FTX founder, was sentenced to two years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud-related charges. She was released after 11 months of incarceration.
Alameda had a $65 billion line of credit with FTX and allegedly used that financing to fund political donations for Bankman-Fried.
Chen stated that Ellison has been working with Manifund since July and accepted a full-time role in August to “develop our funding platform and research how to effectively direct philanthropic dollars.” Chen said he reviewed Ellison’s Tumblr page and Substack posts, believing readers would understand her background.
