MIT Economist Sara Ellison, Caroline Ellison's Mother, Witnesses Her Sentencing

Caroline Ellison’s mother, Sara Fisher Ellison, was present in court on September 24, 2024, as her daughter received a two-year federal prison sentence for her involvement in the FTX-Alameda fraud scandal. Sara attended with her husband Glenn and Caroline’s two younger sisters, watching as Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down the conviction more than a year after Caroline served as a key witness in the high-profile trial against Sam Bankman-Fried.

The Sentencing and Its Implications

The sentence came as a disappointment to Caroline Ellison’s legal team and her family, despite her extensive cooperation in the prosecution’s case against Bankman-Fried. Although her attorneys requested no prison time and prosecutors supported a lenient sentence in light of her cooperation, New York sentencing guidelines required that she serve at least two-thirds of her term. However, Judge Kaplan did grant Caroline’s request to serve her sentence at a facility near her family in Boston, providing some relief to parents Glenn and Sara Ellison.

As of March 2026, Ellison has become eligible for parole consideration, marking a potential turning point in the case that captivated the crypto community.

Sara Fisher Ellison: Accomplished Economics Professor and Mother

Caroline Ellison’s mother holds the position of senior lecturer at MIT’s Department of Economics, while her father Glenn serves as a professor and former department head. Sara’s academic career has focused primarily on e-commerce dynamics and pharmaceutical industry research. Her work examines market competition, pricing mechanisms in the online retail space, and supply-and-demand perspectives within the pharmaceutical sector.

Glenn Ellison’s research interests span game theory, industrial organization, education, finance, and economic geography. Beyond his academic publications on taxation, technology, and market dynamics, he has authored the “Hard Math” educational textbook series for elementary and middle school students, demonstrating a broader commitment to economics education.

Joint Scholarly Ventures

Throughout their careers, Sara and Glenn Ellison have occasionally collaborated on research projects, combining their expertise. The pair jointly published “Lessons About Markets From the Internet” in 2005 and “Search and Obfuscation in a Technologically Changing Retail Environment” in 2018. More recently, the economist couple explored the societal impact of home-sharing platforms like Airbnb, analyzing how such services might enhance economic efficiency through intensive property utilization while potentially affecting housing availability.

Since Caroline Ellison’s legal troubles became public, her parents have maintained a low profile, largely avoiding media inquiries and declining to provide extensive commentary on their daughter’s case or conviction.