XRP Lawyer Deaton Warns Against ‘Rewriting History’ As Ellison Nears Early Release

Deaton has requested Pam Bondi to reconsider the FTX case and oppose a Sam Bankman-Fried sentence reduction.

• John Deaton stated that Sam Bankman-Fried's prison sentence should remain unchanged, cautioning against efforts to "rewrite history" concerning FTX.
• The initially filed campaign finance case against Bankman-Fried claimed he illicitly diverted millions in political donations, but it was dismissed in 2023.
• Caroline Ellison helped creditors collect hundreds of millions of dollars, according to FTX bankruptcy CEO John J. Ray III.

XRP community attorney and U.S. Senate candidate John Deaton called on Pam Bondi, a former Florida Attorney General (AG), to revisit the FTX campaign finance case, arguing that Sam Bankman-Fried’s prison sentence should not be reduced.

Deaton’s remarks come as former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison approaches early release following her cooperation with federal prosecutors.

On X, Deaton expressed that he does not agree to reducing the sentence for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in November 2024, warning of what he described as an effort to “rewrite history” around the collapsed crypto exchange that once played a central role in Bitcoin (BTC) markets. 

He added that Bankman-Fried's sentence shouldn't be shortened and that Bondi should reopen the campaign-fund fraud prosecution against FTX and its former leaders.

Deaton came to public attention in the Ripple–SEC litigation after representing tens of thousands of XRP holders as amicus curiae, arguing that the SEC's enforcement action against Ripple unjustly affected retail investors who were not involved.

Bitcoin (BTC) was trading at $88,571.34, up 1.2% over the past day. On Stocktwits, retail sentiment around Bitcoin was in ‘extremely bearish’ territory, with ‘low’ levels of chatter over the past day. 

FTX Campaign Finance Fraud

The FTX campaign finance fraud lawsuit alleges that founder Sam Bankman-Fried illegally used customer funds to make tens of millions of dollars in political donations in the U.S. through fake donors to circumvent federal contribution restrictions. At first, U.S. prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with conspiracy to violate campaign finance rules, but the charge was dropped in 2023 because Bahamian officials did not agree to extradite him on that count. 

FTX Co-CEO Caroline Ellison Set For Early Release 

Deaton's statements were in response to the event that Caroline Ellison, the former co-CEO of Alameda Research, would be released from federal custody on January 21, 2026. Ellison has been on community confinement since October 2025, before she was moved from a federal prison in Connecticut. 

Ellison admitted guilt in December 2022 to fraud and conspiracy charges connected to the failure of FTX, which cost customers billions of dollars. She worked with federal prosecutors and testified against Bankman-Fried, who was found guilty and given a 25-year jail sentence. In September 2024, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Ellison to two years in prison and told her to give over $11 billion. Her release would be about 10 months earlier than the full term.

John J. Ray III, the CEO of the FTX bankruptcy estate, said in a filing before Ellison's sentencing that Ellison provided "valuable assistance and cooperation," which helped creditors recover hundreds of millions of dollars in assets. Ellison also accepted a 10-year ban from serving as CEO or director of public companies or cryptocurrency exchanges.

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