All posts tagged: Ellison

How Sam Altman Sidestepped Elon Musk to Win Over Donald Trump

How Sam Altman Sidestepped Elon Musk to Win Over Donald Trump

Published by skeptic

At President Trump’s inauguration, Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, was relegated to the overflow room while other tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg took prime spots on the dais under the Capitol rotunda. But days earlier, before flying into Washington, Mr. Altman was on the phone with Mr. Trump, preparing an announcement that would outflank Mr. Musk and put Mr. Altman’s company at the center of the new administration’s agenda for artificial intelligence. On the 25-minute call, Mr. Altman appealed to Mr. Trump’s love of a big story and of a big deal. Mr. Altman told the president-elect that the tech industry would achieve artificial general intelligence — the hypothetical moment when technology matches human intelligence — during the Trump administration, according to three people familiar with the call. And to get there before competitors from China, OpenAI, Oracle and SoftBank had completed a $100 billion deal to build data centers across the country. The day after the inauguration, Mr. Altman stood behind Mr. Trump in the Roosevelt Room of the …

A Very Bad Thing by J T Ellison

A Very Bad Thing by J T Ellison

Published by skeptic

You know that old saying about how everyone has a book in them? Well, sometimes that book might just be a ticking time bomb. J T Ellison’s latest psychological thriller, “A Very Bad Thing,” takes that idea and runs with it, weaving a tale so twisted it’ll make your head spin faster than a carnival ride after too many corn dogs. The Plot Thickens… Like Really, Really Thickens Picture this: Columbia Jones, bestselling author extraordinaire, is living the dream. She’s got more fans than a summer heatwave, a movie deal that’s hotter than asphalt in August, and a string of hit novels that would make even Stephen King a little jelly. But here’s the kicker – on the last night of her book tour, she keels over faster than a house of cards in a hurricane. And the next morning? Bam! She’s deader than disco, lying in a pool of her own blood. Now, you might be thinking, “Whoa, slow down there, cowboy! That’s one heck of an opening!” And you’d be right. Ellison doesn’t …

Biden fund gets big donation from son of GOP donor Larry Ellison

Biden fund gets big donation from son of GOP donor Larry Ellison

Published by skeptic

David Ellison, CEO of Skydance Media attends the 81st Annual Golden Globe Awards at The Beverly Hilton on January 07, 2024 in Beverly Hills, California.  Kevin Winter | The Hollywood Reporter | Getty Images David Ellison, the son of Republican megadonor Larry Ellison, gave $929,600 to back the re-election efforts of President Joe Biden, putting him among the top recent donors to the incumbent Democrat. David Ellison’s donation is the largest recorded contribution that the Skydance Media CEO ever made to a federal candidate, according to Federal Election Commission records. His contribution in February to the Biden Victory Fund is tied with other large contributors in the first quarter of 2024. Others who gave the same amount as David Ellison in that quarter include the attorney George Conway, who is a leading critic of former President Donald Trump, and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz. David Ellison’s donation comes as his father, Larry Ellison, the chairman of Oracle, has kept his wallet firmly shut this election cycle. Larry Ellison, who historically has been a major GOP donor, …

Ex-SDNY prosecutor says Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh probably won’t get jail time

Ex-SDNY prosecutor says Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh probably won’t get jail time

Published by skeptic

“I’ve had cooperating witnesses who did get jail time, but it’s the exception not the rule” Jacquelyn Melinek 8 hours Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of FTX; Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda; and Nishad Singh, FTX head of engineering, all pleaded guilty to charges a month after the crypto exchange and sister company’s downfall in November 2022. In recent weeks, all three parties took the stand to testify against Sam Bankman-Fried at his trial in the Southern District of New York courthouse. Wang, Ellison and Singh are all facing up to 50, 110 and 75 years in prison, respectively. When Wang testified, prosecutors asked at the end of their examination how many years he was hoping to be sentenced. “Ideally hoping for no time,” he replied, which prompted some quiet laughter in the courtroom. But that comment by Wang wasn’t a joke and could be a possibility, according to Josh Naftalis, a former federal prosecutor and ex-assistant U.S. attorney for the SDNY, on TechCrunch’s Chain Reaction podcast. All three agreed to testify as a part …

FTX’s Organizational Chaos – The Atlantic

FTX’s Organizational Chaos – The Atlantic

Published by skeptic

In federal court this week, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, testified against her former boss and boyfriend, Sam Bankman-Fried. His two fallen crypto enterprises offer an object lesson in how not to run a start-up. First, here are four new stories from The Atlantic: Organizational Chaos “How would you describe the power dynamic of your personal relationship with the defendant?” a prosecutor asked Caroline Ellison in court on Tuesday. Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers immediately objected to the question, and the judge sustained the objection. But all of us watching Ellison’s testimony in the federal courthouse heard the question. It hung in the air even as the prosecutor rephrased the inquiry. At this point, FTX is many things: a company whose founder is on trial; a symbol for the rot underlying the crypto ecosystem; a target of schadenfreude. But before its dramatic implosion, it was also a workplace run by Millennials. And it seems, to hear Ellison describe it, to have been an absolute shitshow. In addition to the fraught power dynamics that came …

FTX trial stirs up more chaos as ex Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison testifies on faulty balance sheets, bribes and more

FTX trial stirs up more chaos as ex Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison testifies on faulty balance sheets, bribes and more

Published by skeptic

Welcome back to Chain Reaction. To get a roundup of TechCrunch’s biggest and most important crypto stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday at 12 p.m. PT, subscribe here. It’s week two of the Sam Bankman-Fried trial and I’m writing this live from outside the Southern District of New York courthouse where the case is taking place. (Tip: If you want to get into the main courtroom to sit behind SBF and listen in, you have to line up before 6 am or you’ll be sent to the overflow room.)  Tuesday was a slower day filled with technical details, but that changed on Wednesday and Thursday when Caroline Ellison, ex-CEO of Alameda Research, took the stand to testify. Here’s a refresher on what you may have missed last week. (TC+) Alameda is a big player in the trial as it’s the crypto hedge fund sister company of FTX. Bankman-Fried started Alameda back in 2017, two years before launching FTX. And in 2021, Ellison took over as co-CEO with Sam Trabucco as Bankman-Fried wanted to step …

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison explains how FTX hid losses, sandbagged lenders

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison explains how FTX hid losses, sandbagged lenders

Published by skeptic

Caroline Ellison’s testimony at Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial spread into a second day, digging deep into the state of crypto trading firm Alameda Research’s faulty balance sheets. “We were in a bad situation,” Ellison said, referring to the time period between May and June 2022. “[We were] concerned if anyone found out it would all come crashing down.” At the time, Terra/LUNA collapsed, causing a number of crypto market players to struggle and cryptocurrencies to lose value. The stablecoin’s implosion came months before FTX itself collapsed, an event that was triggered when a balance sheet was leaked by CoinDesk that cast doubt on its solvency. Ellison testified that the balance sheet was one shared with lenders, not the accurate one the company used internally. This means that the balance sheet CoinDesk reported on was also “dishonest” and still “understated true risk” of Alameda and FTX. Ellison testified that Alameda had to repay crypto lenders like Genesis, who were asking for loans to be repaid. She said FTX customer deposits were used to repay lenders, and when …

Alameda Research’s ex-CEO Caroline Ellison testifies, claims SBF directed her to commit crimes

Alameda Research’s ex-CEO Caroline Ellison testifies, claims SBF directed her to commit crimes

Published by skeptic

Caroline Ellison, the ex-CEO of Alameda Research, took the stand as the fifth witness for the prosecution in Sam Bankman-Fried’s six-week trial, claiming that the former FTX CEO directed her to commit fraud and money laundering crimes. Ellison added that while she ran Alameda, she took several billion dollars from customers to invest in other projects and repay debts to lenders through an “essentially unlimited line of credit.” Alameda took $14 billion in total from customers, but “some we were able to pay back,” Ellison testified. She also said she sent modified balance sheets to investors and lenders at the direction of Bankman-Fried so Alameda Research could “look less risky than it was.” Ellison has pleaded guilty to multiple charges and accepted plea agreements, alongside Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of FTX, and Nishad Singh, director of engineering at FTX. Wang testified in the trial from October 5 until midday on Tuesday. Ellison and Bankman-Fried dated for a number of years on and off, she said, adding that they originally met while she was an …