Silvergate $10M settlement opens claims for FTX-linked depositors

A class-action lawsuit against crypto-friendly Silvergate Bank in California is inviting claimants connected to FTX or Alameda Research accounts. Investors who deposited fiat “into an FTX- or Alameda-related account” between 2019 and 2022 are encouraged to submit claims for a $10 million settlement filed in the US District Court for the Southern District of California

The lawsuit indicates that Investors have until Jan. 30 to opt out or file a claim as part of a settlement that “resolves a lawsuit over whether Silvergate Bank, Silvergate Capital Corporation, and Alan J. Lane aided and abetted tortious conduct on the part of FTX, Alameda, and Sam Bankman-Fried. 

“The Settlement is fair, reasonable, and adequate […],” said a Dec. 8 court filing asking for approval. “It marks a significant recovery from the bankrupt Silvergate and will provide additional relief, beyond that obtained in the FTX Bankruptcy, for those affected by the multi-billion-dollar collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange.”

Court sets final hearing as FTX-linked investors eye recovery

Judge Ruth Bermudez Montenegro will hold a final hearing to consider the settlement on Feb. 9, giving any investors tied to FTX and Alameda over 30 days to file claims. According to court filings, the FTX bankruptcy case has achieved over 46,000 potential claimants via mail, which could result in proportional payments from the $10 million settlement. 

Silvergate voluntarily wound down operations in March 2023. It was initially one of the few crypto-friendly banks in the US that had ties to the FTX exchange at the time of its collapse in November 2022. 

While most criminal cases against former FTX and Alameda executives have been resolved over the past three years, some civil cases remain, as well as a potential prosecution of another individual linked to the exchange. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame are serving federal prison sentences for their roles in the collapse. At the same time, executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang received time served.

Additionally, Michelle Bond, wife of Salame, faces campaign finance charges linked to FTX funds in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York. Her legal team says that prosecutors induced a guilty plea from Salame on the promise that they would not pursue a case against Bond. The next evidentiary hearing for Bond’s case is scheduled for March 4.

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison moves to a community confinement program

On related developments, former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison, who was once Sam Bankman-Fried’s girlfriend, has been quietly transferred out of federal prison after serving approximately 11 months of her two-year sentence, according to Business Insider. The 31-year-old was moved on October 16 from the Danbury Federal Correctional Institution in Connecticut to a community confinement program, a spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons confirmed.

That indicates Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried’s Alameda Research cryptocurrency hedge fund, will still be in federal custody but is now either in home confinement or a halfway house, BOP spokesperson Randilee Giamusso noted.

“For privacy, safety, and security reasons, we do not discuss the conditions of confinement for any individual, including reasons for transfers or release plans, nor do we specify an individual’s specific location while in community confinement,” Giamusso said.

Data from prison records list Ellison’s projected release date as February 20, 2026 — nearly nine months early. When reached out by reporters, her attorneys declined to comment for this story.

 In early November 2024, Ellison reported to the low-security Danbury prison to serve a two-year sentence she received for her role in the massive multibillion-dollar fraud scheme that led to the collapse of Bankman-Fried’s business empire.

She had pleaded guilty to conspiring with Bankman-Fried — the founder of the FTX crypto exchange and its sister company, Alameda Research — in the $11 billion fraud scheme.

Ellison served as the main witness in Bankman-Fried’s 2023 criminal trial, testifying that the pair used Alameda to invest billions of dollars’ worth of assets secretly siphoned from FTX customers.

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