Things To Do In SW Florida

By LARRY NEUMEISTER, Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Caroline Ellison, a former top executive in Sam Bankman-Fried ’s fallen FTX cryptocurrency empire, was sentenced to two years in prison on Tuesday after she apologized to everyone hurt by a fraud that stole billions of dollars from investors, lenders and customers.

Ellison, 29, could have faced a much tougher sentence, but both the judge and prosecutors said she deserved credit for talking extensively with federal investigators, pleading guilty and ultimately testifying against Bankman-Fried for three days at his trial last November.

U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan said Ellison’s cooperation was “very, very substantial” and “remarkable.”

But he said a prison sentence was necessary because she had participated in what might be the “greatest financial fraud ever perpetrated in this country and probably anywhere else” or at least close to it.

Ellison was ordered to report to prison Nov. 7.

FTX was one of the world’s most popular cryptocurrency exchanges, known for its Superbowl TV ad and its extensive lobbying campaign in Washington, before it collapsed in 2022. read more

NASA and SpaceX won’t be launching its next crew to the International Space Station as planned this week because of the threat from what is forecast to become Hurricane Helene.

NASA announced Tuesday that the planned launch that could have occurred Thursday will now be pushed to at least Saturday as the brewing storm aims to head up into the Gulf of Mexico and strike the Florida coast.

The wind field for the storm, though, is expected to be 250 miles wide as it grows into a strong Category 3 major hurricane by Thursday ahead of landfall.

Tropical Storm Helene forms, forecast to hit Florida as major hurricane

“Although Tropical Storm Helene is moving through the Gulf of Mexico and expected to impact the Florida panhandle, the storm system is large enough that high winds and heavy rain are expected in the Cape Canaveral and Merritt Island regions on Florida’s east coast,” reads a post on NASA’s website.

Now SpaceX is aiming for a Falcon 9 topped with the Crew Dragon Freedom to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 no earlier than 1:17 p.m. Saturday with backups available Sunday-Tuesday. read more