Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, pleaded guilty to two felonies and will be sentenced in a New York court on May 1.
According to a docket released by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on February 23, Salame will appear in court on May 1 before Judge Lewis Kaplan for his involvement in the defunct cryptocurrency. The exchange was sentenced for its role in the fraud. In September 2023, the former FTX executive pleaded guilty to one count of illegal political contributions and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
Salame is charged in the same case as former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former FTX director of engineering Nishad Singh. He admitted in court to making a $10 million political donation and "calling it a loan that [he] never intended to repay."
The charges also center on Salaam's donations to his then-girlfriend Michelle Bond's 2022 congressional campaign. There are reports that he also made campaign donations on behalf of a company, which violated U.S. law. The former FTX executive could face years in prison after sentencing, but the U.S. Attorney's Office reportedly proposed probation instead of prison time.
Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on seven felonies and is scheduled to be sentenced on March 28 in New York. On February 19, cryptocurrency journalist Tiffany Fong published a photo of the former FTX CEO in prison, giving a rare look at his life since his conviction. Since prosecutors began filing criminal charges in November 2022, none of the five cryptocurrency executives involved in FTX’s collapse have been sentenced. Ellison, Wang, Singer and Salaam all pleaded guilty and accepted deals, while Bankman-Fried moved forward with trial.
Salam was the only party not to testify against the SBF at the trial. His plea deal reportedly included paying an estimated $6 million in fines to the U.S. government, repaying $5 million to FTX debtors, and turning over two properties in Massachusetts and a Porsche. As of this article's publication, Salaam is being held on $1 million bail pending sentencing.
