Manifund, a charity founded by Austin Chen that focuses on AI and effective altruism causes, has created quite the stir by admitting to hiring disgraced CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison.
While the controversy is fascinating, the history behind it is detailed, lengthy, and bizarre.
In March of 2022 Chen’s organization, then called Manifold Markets, applied for $500,000 in funding from the FTX Future Fund, the philanthropic arm of FTX, to setup Manifold For Charity (now known as Manifund).
Most notably, two important EA figures helped run the Future Fund, and therefore helped approve Chen’s grant application: William MacAskill and Leopold Aschenbrenner.
Six months later, FTX and Alameda Research were declaring bankruptcy and its CEOs, Sam Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, were being ushered to jail.
Former FTX member Leopold Aschenbrenner’s $20B AI fund blows up
Time marches on
Ultimately, Gary Wang and Nishad Singh, executives associated with FTX and Alameda, received no prison sentence, SBF was sentenced to 25 years, and Ellison to two years.
Ellison was released in January 2026.
In the time the Alameda Research CEO spent behind bars, effective altruism, despite being heavily criticized, has chugged on. Manifund has too.
During this period Manifund has managed to fund nearly 500 projects and handed out grants totaling almost $20 million, according to its own data.
But what is hasn’t done is also very important.
FTX sues Manifund
Despite being able to fund hundreds of projects and hand out millions of dollars, a pain point for Manifund appears to be the $500,000 grant it received from the FTX Future Fund in 2022.
In 2024, FTX brought suit against Manifold Markets, demanding the return of $508,000. In July of 2025, it added Manifold For Charity (now known as Manifund) to the amended complaint.
The amended complaint now demands the return of “no less than $1,508,000.”
The suit has moved forward but no solution has been agreed yet. Needless to say, the optics of being an effective altruist charity while withholding funds from creditors isn’t great, but it could look worse.
Namely if you hire a friend you’re indebted to.
There’s nothing wrong with hiring a criminal, especially if you believe them to be reformed — a point Chen makes in his post on EA forums. However, far more important is Chen’s history and ongoing problems with FTX.
The fact that he’s willing to bring Ellison into his company, despite her past with Alameda Research, his own connection to the FTX Future Fund, and a $1,508,000 lawsuit, calls into question his own abilities to abide by effective altruistic intentions.
The EA forums are wondering aloud: is this maximizing positive impact?
