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CFTC Closes Civil Cases Against Ellison and Wang with Temporary Trading and Registration Bans

The regulator said their cooperation and an $11.02 billion criminal forfeiture explain why it will not seek civil fines at this time.

Overview

  • The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York entered supplemental consent orders on Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2026, that resolve the CFTC’s civil cases against Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang.
  • The orders impose five-year bans on trading in CFTC-regulated markets for both defendants and bar Ellison from CFTC registration for 10 years and Wang for eight years, with those periods running from the initial consent orders entered on Dec. 23, 2022.
  • The CFTC said it will not seek restitution, disgorgement, or civil monetary penalties now because Ellison’s and Wang’s substantial cooperation with investigators and the $11.02 billion criminal forfeiture in the parallel prosecutions addressed financial accountability.
  • Both defendants had earlier admitted liability in the CFTC’s December 2022 consent orders for antifraud violations, and the supplemental orders require them to continue assisting the agency and preserve the regulator’s right to seek penalties if cooperation stops.
  • The action closes one strand of the long-running legal fallout from FTX’s 2022 collapse but leaves criminal forfeiture, supervised-release conditions, and other related civil suits continuing to affect the defendants and potential recoveries for customers.