Caroline Ellison Hires SEC’s Former Top Crypto Cop for FTX Probe

Ex-Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison has hired a former SEC official who oversaw many of the regulator’s biggest crypto cases as her lawyer in the federal probe into cryptocurrency exchange FTX’s calamitous collapse.

Stephanie Avakian, former enforcement division chief at the Securities and Exchange Commission, is representing Ellison along with other lawyers at her firm, WilmerHale, according to people familiar with the matter.

A spokesperson for the law firm declined to comment.

Alameda was the Hong Kong-based sister trading company of FTX, and FTX’s bankruptcy team, Congress, regulators and Manhattan prosecutors are probing allegations billions of dollars ...