Ellison, along with FTX co-founder Gary Wang, pled guilty last week to federal charges in connection with their roles in the frauds that contributed to FTX's collapse, and both are cooperating with the Southern District of New York. News of their plea agreements was held back until Bankman-Fried was en route to the U.S. from The Bahamas.

The misleading financial statements came in the form of "quarterly balance sheets that concealed the extent of Alameda's borrowing and the billions of dollars in loans that Alameda had made," Ellison explained.Ellison's statement confirmed earlier reports that Alameda enjoyed special treatment from FTX, able to freely withdraw money from its sister company.

"I understood that FTX executives had implemented special settings on Alameda's FTX.com account that permitted Alameda to maintain negative balances in various fiat currencies and crypto currencies," she said. "In practical terms, this arrangement permitted Alameda access to an unlimited line of credit without being required to post collateral, without having to pay interest on negative balances and without being subject to margin calls or FTX.com's liquidation protocols."

As for Bankman-Fried, Ellison said he and other executives had obtained loans from Alameda, which was meanwhile making "numerous large illiquid venture investments." To repay those loans, Ellison said she "agreed with others" to borrow billions of dollars from FTX.