Ryan Salame, former co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets Ltd., arrives at the U.S. Federal Court in New York on Tuesday, May 28, 2024.
Yuki Iwamura | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Ryan Salame, a former senior lieutenant to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to 90 months, or seven and a half years, in prison, followed by three years of supervised release. Salami is also available ordered to pay More than $6 million was confiscated and more than $5 million was returned.
The sentence was harsher than the five to seven years recommended by prosecutors and far longer than the 18 months Salam’s defense team had requested.
in septemberSalameh pleaded guilty to conspiring to make illegal political contributions, defrauding the Federal Election Commission, and conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
In March, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Sam Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison.
In 2021, Salame moved from a senior position at Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency hedge fund Alameda Research to become co-chief executive of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary FTX Digital Markets. Salaam spent millions of dollars on real estate and campaign donations during his time in office.
One estimate from Bahamian lawyers said Bankman-Fried and Salame spent $256.3 million buying and maintaining 35 properties in New Providence — properties that Bahamian regulators hope to recover during FTX’s U.S. bankruptcy proceedings. at the same time, Federal Election Commission data show Salaam has donated more than $24 million to Republican candidates and causes during the 2022 election cycle.
Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, pleaded guilty to two counts in New York City on September 7, 2023, including conspiring to make illegal political contributions to the United States, and subsequently withdrew from federal court.
Brendan McDermid | Reuters
Days before FTX filed for bankruptcy in 2022, Salame went to authorities in the Bahamas to tell them that Bankman-Fried may have committed the fraud by sending customer funds from the cryptocurrency exchange to another of his companies, Alameda Research. According to a criminal filing, Salam disclosed Bankman-Fried’s “possible improper handling of client assets.”
It was the first public admission by insiders of Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of stealing more than $8 billion worth of customer cash that they believed was safely stored at the exchange.
However, since then, several other insiders, including former Alameda CEO, SBF’s ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and FTX’s former engineering head Nishad Singh, have provided testimony for the prosecution, which ultimately led to his conviction. Monthly verdict. Salam did not testify during Bankman-Fried’s trial.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement that Tuesday’s sentencing underscores “the serious consequences of such crimes.”
Williams added: “Salaam engaged in two serious federal crimes that undermined public trust in the integrity of America’s electoral and financial systems.”
Salame is the first member of the exchange’s executive team to be sentenced since SBF filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
— CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.
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