By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Former cryptocurrency executive Caroline Ellison is set to be sentenced on Tuesday for her role in her imprisoned former boyfriend Sam Bankman-Fried’s theft of about $8 billion in customer funds from the now-bankrupt FTX exchange he founded.

Ellison has pleaded guilty to seven felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, and testified as a prosecution witness in the trial of Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of fraud and other charges last year and is serving a 25-year prison sentence stemming from FTX’s November 2022 collapse.

At her sentencing hearing scheduled for 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan, Ellison will learn how much leniency she will earn from her cooperation with prosecutors.

Ellison, 29, will almost certainly get far less prison time than Bankman-Fried did. The crimes to which she pleaded guilty carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.

Her lawyers have argued that she should get no prison time due to her cooperation. Without recommending a specific prison term, the U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, also urged Kaplan to go easy on Ellison, citing her “extraordinary” cooperation and expression of remorse.

“As FTX collapsed, Bankman-Fried persisted in publicly denying knowledge and fault,” prosecutors wrote in a Sept. 17 court filing. “Ellison, on the other hand, expressed relief that the fraud was exposed, and responsibility for her wrongdoing.”

Prosecutors said Ellison met with them about 20 times to help them piece together FTX’s unraveling and make their case against Bankman-Fried.

Prosecutors have called Bankman-Fried’s actions one of the biggest financial frauds in U.S. history. Bankman-Fried, 32, rode a boom in cryptocurrency prices during the COVID pandemic to a net worth by October 2021 of, according to Forbes magazine, $26 billion. He gained prominence as a generous donor to philanthropic causes and Democratic politicians.

His wealth evaporated when FTX collapsed in November 2022 amid a flurry of customer withdrawals. The company had been widely viewed as a relative safe-haven in a cryptocurrency industry beset by volatility and scams.

Bankman-Fried was charged a month later with stealing FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda Research, a cryptocurrency-focused hedge fund he founded and that Ellison ran from 2021-2022. Ellison pleaded guilty in December 2022.

Bankman-Fried is appealing his conviction and sentence, arguing that Kaplan wrongly excluded evidence showing he thought FTX had enough funds to cover customer withdrawals. In testifying in his own defense at trial, Bankman-Fried admitted to making mistakes while running FTX, but denied stealing money.

In his closing argument at Bankman-Fried’s trial, defense lawyer Mark Cohen accused Ellison of “pointing at Sam” to escape the pressure she faced after FTX’s collapse.

Ellison testified over three days at Bankman-Fried’s trial, telling the jury he directed her and others to take money from FTX’s customers without their knowledge. In tearful testimony, Ellison said she felt “indescribably bad” about the fraud, and that FTX’s collapse lifted the “dread” hanging over her.

“I felt a sense of relief that I didn’t have to lie anymore,” Ellison testified.

Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, two other former FTX executives who cooperated with prosecutors, are scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 30 and Nov. 20, respectively.

Investing in dividend shares might be a good way to construct your passive revenue. Many firms pay a portion of their income to buyers through dividends.

Whereas the common round 1.5% today (primarily based on the S&P 500’s yield), many provide even greater funds. Kinder Morgan (NYSE: KMI), Verizon (NYSE: VZ), Brookfield Infrastructure Companions (NYSE: BIP), and Agree Realty (NYSE: ADC) stand out for his or her payouts. All 4 firms provide dividends yielding 4% or extra. Additional, they’ve wonderful information of accelerating their funds.

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Kinder Morgan at present yields greater than 5%. The pipeline big backs that high-yielding dividend with very secure money stream. Roughly 68% comes from take-or-pay agreements and hedging contracts that pay the corporate a hard and fast price no matter volumes and commodity costs. In the meantime, most of its remaining earnings come from belongings that generate fee-based money stream with restricted fluctuations primarily based on their quantity publicity.

The corporate pays out about half of its secure money stream in dividends. It retains the remaining to fund its growth whereas sustaining its sturdy stability sheet.

Kinder Morgan at present has $5.2 billion in high-return growth tasks underway that can develop its money stream over the subsequent few years. It additionally makes use of its monetary flexibility to make accretive acquisitions (it purchased STX Midstream for about $1.8 billion late final 12 months). These progress catalysts ought to give it extra gasoline to extend its dividend. Kinder Morgan delivered its seventh consecutive 12 months of dividend progress in 2024.

Your connection to a prodigious passive revenue stream

Verizon gives a dividend yield of greater than 6% today. The telecom big lately delivered its 18th straight 12 months of dividend progress. That is the longest present streak within the U.S. telecom sector.

The cell and broadband firm generates lots of money. Its working money stream totaled $16.6 billion throughout the first half of this 12 months, sufficient to cowl its capital bills ($8.1 billion) and dividend funds ($5.6 billion) with room to spare. It used that extra money to strengthen its stability sheet.

Verizon’s steadily bettering stability sheet is enabling it to . That acquisition ought to ultimately assist develop its free money stream, which ought to enable it to repay that debt. In the meantime, its capital investments to develop its fiber and 5G companies must also assist enhance its money stream. These drivers ought to allow Verizon to proceed extending its dividend progress streak within the coming years.

Extra revenue from this feature

Brookfield Infrastructure Companions at present gives a dividend yield approaching 5%. That is a lot greater than its company twin, Brookfield Infrastructure Corp. (NYSE: BIPC), which gives a payout approaching 4%. The one distinction is that the publicly traded restricted partnership sends its buyers a Schedule Ok-1 federal tax type annually, whereas the company gives an easier-to-file 1099-Div Kind.

The economically equal entities pay the identical quarterly dividend fee, which they plan to develop by 5% to 9% yearly. That might prolong Brookfield Infrastructure’s already wonderful streak of accelerating its fee (15 straight years). The worldwide infrastructure operator generates secure and rising money stream to cowl its profitable payout. The corporate sees a mixture of inflation escalators, quantity progress, capital tasks, and acquisitions powering greater than 10% annual FFO–per-share progress within the coming years.

Numerous progress left

Agree Realty at present yields 4%. The retail REIT has grown its dividend, which it pays month-to-month, at a 5.7% compound annual price during the last 10 years.

The actual property funding belief focuses on proudly owning freestanding properties web leased or floor leased to high-quality retail tenants. Almost 70% of its hire comes from nationwide or regional tenants with investment-grade credit score rankings. In the meantime, prime tenant sectors are retailers resilient to the pressures of e-commerce and recessions, like grocery shops, house enchancment facilities, and tire and auto service areas.

Agree Realty steadily grows its portfolio of income-producing properties by making acquisitions or investing in growth tasks. It has a powerful stability sheet and a really lengthy progress runway. Its present tenants nonetheless personal over 166,000 of their areas, a large whole addressable market alternative for the roughly 2,200-property REIT.

Steadily rising passive revenue

Kinder Morgan, Verizon, Brookfield Infrastructure Companions, and Agree Realty provide dividend yields above 4%, backed by secure money flows and sturdy monetary profiles. Additional, this quartet has finished a wonderful job rising their payouts over time, which appears prone to proceed. These options make them wonderful dividend shares to purchase for these searching for enticing, steadily rising streams of passive revenue.

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has positions in Brookfield Infrastructure Company, Brookfield Infrastructure Companions, Kinder Morgan, and Verizon Communications. The Motley Idiot has positions in and recommends Kinder Morgan. The Motley Idiot recommends Brookfield Infrastructure Companions and Verizon Communications. The Motley Idiot has a .

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