Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of the FTX-associated Alameda Research trading company, has retained Stephanie Avakian, a former top cryptocurrency regulator for the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the chair of the securities and financial services department at law firm WilmerHale, to represent her as the federal investigation of the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX continues.

Akavian has extensive experience in the field. While serving in the SEC from 2016 to 2022, she led several prominent cases against major companies and notable figures. Among those she prosecuted were Elizabeth Holmes, the head of Theranos, over making fraudulent claims while raising over $700 million in funding for the company. She also was involved in the case against Elon Musk for tweeting what were determined to be misleading statements about potentially taking Tesla private. And she was involved in the case against Facebook for misleading investors about the misuse of user data.

Akavian also led cases against Robinhood and Ripple Lab, while increasing regulation over the cryptocurrency sector at the SEC.

According to court documents in the FTX bankruptcy filing, just before FTX filed for bankruptcy in November, Alameda borrowed $3.3 billion in user funds from FTX, and gave them as a loan, to FTX founder Sam Bankman Fried as well as entities under his control, both to cover losses and to make risky bets. Prior to that, it was reported Bankman-Fried had transferred customer funds from FTX to Alameda to cover loans, that had been lost on risky investments and which were called by their banks.

Unlike Bankman-Fried, Ellison has stayed largely silent in the wake of the collapse of FTX. She was photographed in New York City recently , where it was said she was seeking legal representation. Bankman-Fried has placed much of the blame for the fall of FTX and the loss of customer funds on Alameda. There has been some speculation she may have gone to authorities and cut a deal with prosecutors to reveal all she knows, according to New York magazine.

Bankman-Fried missed a deadline to respond to a request for testimony by the Senate Banking Committee, which has said if he does not voluntarily choose to appear before the Committee’s investigation of the collapse of FTX, he will be subpoenaed.

Senate Banking Chairman Sherrod Brow, said in a public statement to Bankman-Fried, “As the Founder and CEO of FTX Trading Ltd. at the time of its collapse and the founder, principal owner, and former CEO of Alameda Research, you must answer for the failure of both entities that was caused, at least in part, by the clear misuse of client funds and wiped out billions of dollars owed to over a million creditors.”