The FTX meltdown was so chaotic that Caroline Ellison was reportedly 'relieved' to step away from Alameda

• The end of FTX followed a destabilizing exodus of customers and employees, Financial Times reports.
• As last-ditch efforts failed, Caroline Ellison reportedly felt "relieved" at an end to the chaos.

The final days of FTX were so swift and disorienting as customers withdrew funds and staff fled its Bahamas offices, that Caroline Ellison was reportedly "relieved" when the scrambling came to an end.

As former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried failed to get investors to keep his crypto enterprise afloat, and a possible deal with the crypto exchange Binance flopped, his top co-leaders, including Caroline Ellison, found themselves flailing in vain to fix the damage, according to a Financial Times feature.

Ellison, who ran Bankman-Fried's other company, the crypto hedge fund Alameda Research, was reportedly "relieved" when it finally ended, and had "felt a little trapped" by the company, according to an account by a colleague to FT.

An attorney for Ellison did not respond to Insider's request for comment on Thursday.

In those final days leading to FTX's bankruptcy filing in November, Bankman-Fried fielded harried messages from Bahamian officials and panicked questions from staff, while top leaders like Ellison, FTX cofounder Gary Wang, and others handled the logistics of the downfall, according to the report.

The collapse has since led to multiple parallel US government investigations, FTX's Chapter 11 filing in Delaware, as well as civil and criminal charges against Bankman-Fried, Ellison, and Wang.

Federal prosecutors in New York have hit all three top leaders with fraud and conspiracy charges. Ellison and Wang struck plea deals and are cooperating with the government, while Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty and is awaiting trial.

Bankman-Fried, who faces a hefty prison sentence if convicted, could still potentially reach a deal with prosecutors ahead of his trial, which is currently scheduled for October.

In the meantime, there are still questions about how the parallel criminal cases could affect FTX customers trying to recover funds through the bankruptcy.

Lawyers representing FTX and its creditors had previously told a Delaware bankruptcy court that they were trying to get information about transactions including FTX from insiders including Bankman-Fried and Ellison, but hadn't gotten answers.

Read more in the full Financial Times feature on FTX's collapse.