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FTX executive Ryan Salame is sentenced to seven and a half years in prison
Ryan Salamia top executive at collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison on Tuesday, making him the first of Sam Bankman-Fried’s circle of advisors at FTX to receive a prison sentence.
Mr. Salame, 30 years old, trusted lieutenant of Mr. Bankman-Fried, the founder of the exchange, found guilty last year to a campaign finance law violation and a charge of operating an unlicensed money transfer business. He is one of four top deputies in the FTX empire who have pleaded guilty to crimes since the company imploded in November 2022.
Mr. Salame’s sentence exceeded the five to seven years recommended by prosecutors. Defense lawyers had asked for an 18-month sentence.
Before FTX went bankrupt, Salame was a key figure at the exchange, overseeing its branch in the Bahamas, where the company was based. As FTX grew into a $32 billion business, Salame spent lavishly. He liked expensive cars and private jets and he bought restaurants in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. He has also been a prolific political donor, giving more than $24 million in the 2022 midterm elections, mostly to Republican candidates.
After the implosion of FTX in November 2022, Salame became a target of federal prosecutors, who searched his house in Maryland. Mr. Bankman-Fried was accused of stealing $8 billion from FTX clients and using the money to finance political contributions, venture investments and luxury real estate purchases. Three top FTX executives – Gary Wang, Nishad Singh and Caroline Ellison – pleaded guilty to financial crimes and agreed to cooperate with the government. Everyone awaits the sentence.
In September also Mr. Salame he begged guilty, admitting that he had acted as a Illegal “straw donor”. who made political contributions at the direction of Mr. Bankman-Fried to evade federal disclosure requirements. In a sentencing memo to Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, prosecutors called it “one of the largest campaign finance crimes ever seen” in American history.
As part of the plea deal, Mr. Salame agreed to pay a $6 million fine and more than $5 million in restitution, and to forfeit two properties in Massachusetts, as well as his Porsche.
In the sentencing note, prosecutors argued that Mr. Salame was motivated by a desire for money and influence. Even as FTX collapsed, he withdrew $5 million from the exchange, using the funds to pay off personal expenses and hire a public relations firm. Hours before the bankruptcy, prosecutors wrote, Mr. Salame had withdrawn another $600,000 from his account on FTX’s U.S. platform.
Last year, Mr. Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and criminal conspiracy after a month of testing in New York. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
In their memo to Judge Kaplan, Mr. Salame’s defense lawyers said he was unaware that Mr. Bankman-Fried was stealing billions of dollars from clients. That news “was as shocking and disconcerting to Ryan Salame as to anyone else in the world,” the lawyers wrote.
They said Mr Salame’s life had been “decimated in almost every way possible” and that FTX’s disappearance had brought “shame and instability” to his family. Mr. Salame is in a long-term relationship with Michelle Bond, a former cryptocurrency industry lobbyist who was also a supporter of Mr. Bankman-Fried. In November, Ms. Bond gave birth to the couple’s first child, the statement said. Mr. Salame has also begun to “seriously address” a substance abuse problem, his lawyers wrote, and plans to attend law school.
Unlike Mr Wang, Mr Singh and Ms Ellison, Mr Salame did not testify against Mr Bankman-Fried in court last year. But his lawyers said he voluntarily produced documents and “offered assistance and cooperation” to the government as it prepared the trial.