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Salame, former FTX manager, sentenced to over 7 years in prison
Image source, Getty Images
Image caption, Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets LtdAbout the item
- Author, Peter Hoskins
- Role, Business journalist
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May 29, 2024, 02:12 BST
Another former FTX executive has been jailed for his role in the cryptocurrency giant’s implosion in late 2022.
Ryan Salame, co-chief executive of FTX’s Bahamian branch, was sentenced to 90 months in prison, US federal prosecutors said.
Salame, who was the lieutenant of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange – he pleaded guilty in September last year for violating political campaign finance laws and operating an illegal money transmitting business.
“Salame’s involvement in two serious federal crimes undermined public confidence in American elections and the integrity of the financial system,” said Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement.
A jury found Salame guilty in November last year on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy stemming from the FTX bankruptcy. Prosecutors called it one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.
Salame’s sentence was longer than the five to seven years requested by prosecutors.
In addition to the prison term, he was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.
Salame was one of four former top executives at Bankman-Fried companies to plead guilty to the charges, along with former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, former FTX technology chief Gary Wang and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh.
FTX was one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world before its demise, turning Bankman-Fried into a business celebrity and attracting millions of customers who used the platform to buy and trade cryptocurrency.
Rumors of financial trouble have sparked a run on deposits in 2022, hastening the company’s implosion and exposing Bankman-Fried’s crimes.
He was convicted by a New York jury last year on charges of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering, after a trial that detailed how he used clients’ money to buy property, make political donations and allocate it to other investments.