The Caroline Ellison Manifund hiring, disclosed publicly on Friday by the nonprofit’s founder Austin Chen, marks the first known employment for Ellison since her release from federal prison earlier this year. Chen, who founded Manifund as a charitable offshoot of prediction market company Manifold Markets, announced on Substack that Ellison will develop the platform and research ‘how to effectively direct philanthropic dollars.’
A work trial under a pseudonym
The arrangement had been running quietly for weeks before Friday’s announcement. Chen wrote that he invited Ellison to Manifest 2026, a festival Manifund held in June. She began a ‘work trial’ on 13 July before converting to a full-time position on 10 August, he said. During that period, she published her work for the organisation under the pseudonym ‘Carol.’
‘I apologize for our minor deception, in using a pseudonym over the last couple months,’ Chen wrote. ‘I still endorse having done this, I think it’s relatively common to work with people pseudonymously, when their real identity is famous. But I want to call out that we compromised on transparency here, which I do not take lightly.’
Manifund began as a side project of Manifold Markets, which Chen co-founded. Manifold was previously backed by FTX Future Fund, a philanthropic initiative that Chen noted in his post.
Caroline Ellison Manifund hiring framed as a second chance
Chen framed the decision squarely around his belief in redemption. ‘I believe in redemption,’ he wrote. ‘Caroline has admitted her faults, worked to make creditors whole, and served her time in prison. I’d like to give her the opportunity to contribute back to the world; I hope that the world will concur.’
The post included a statement in Ellison’s name. ‘I’m deeply sorry for what I did, and I completely understand why people may not want to work with me,’ it read. ‘But I’m very grateful to Austin for giving me a second chance, and judging me on my current work performance rather than my past. I feel very lucky not only to have a job, but to be working somewhere that I think is doing great work and has a mission I believe in.’
Ellison previously led Alameda Research, FTX’s affiliated crypto trading firm. In December 2022, she pleaded guilty to seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the misuse of FTX customer funds to cover Alameda’s debts and trading losses. She testified against FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and was sentenced to two years in prison. She was released from federal custody in January and had been keeping a low profile until now.
The scale of the FTX fallout and victim reaction
The stakes of Ellison’s reintegration into the effective altruism (EA) world are not trivial. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered FTX to pay $8.7 billion in restitution and $4 billion in disgorgement to compensate customers and other victims, according to Inc.com. Those figures sit in the background of every conversation about who, if anyone, from the FTX inner circle should be welcomed back into professional life.
Reaction to the Caroline Ellison Manifund hiring on Chen’s Substack post reflected that tension. One commenter wrote: ‘I love a world where we normalize forgiveness and deep understanding of each other beyond hot takes and headlines. Hope the collaboration works out well!’ Another took the opposite view: ‘This shows truly terrible judgment and is likely to harm the reputation not only of Manifund but of all sorts of EA orgs that will take collateral damage.’
A person who said they lost money in the FTX collapse expressed anger directly: ‘Every dollar she earns for the next 70 years should be garnished and sent to victims like myself and thousands of my friends.’
Chen responded to the backlash in the comments: ‘Obviously, I hope to be proven right about this decision, but that may take a while to shake out.’
Ellison could not be reached for comment. Chen confirmed the news in a brief text message to Business Insider but did not provide documentation of her new role. The Caroline Ellison Manifund arrangement is now public, but whether the broader EA funding community and the wider crypto world will accept it, as Chen acknowledged, is a question that will take time to answer.