Former Ripple executive Michelle Bond has been charged with conspiring to cause and causing illegal finance contributions by the U.S. Department of Justice.
Bond and her domestic partner Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive, have been accused of illegally funding the former's campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives for New York's first congressional district in 2022.
Salame allegedly arranged a $400,000 payment from the exchange that was entirely used to fund Bond's unsuccessful campaign, which ended during the primaries phase of the election.
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After hiring a political consulting firm, Bond was advised that she could self-fund her campaign, but these funds had to come from her own pocket.
Bond ended up receiving $400,000 as part of her "consulting agreement" with the FTX exchange. However, she did not perform any services in exchange for the aforementioned sum.
Salame, the top lieutenant of disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to seven years behind bars earlier this year. This came after his former boss received a 25-year prison sentence. Bankman-Fried was convicted of pulling off a billion-dollar fraud last November.
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Recently, Salame asked a judge to block his girlfriend's indictment or vacate his conviction.
Bond joined Ripple as the company's global head of government relations in 2019. She then left Ripple the following year to serve as the CEO of the Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM).
Exciting times @Ripple -- thrilled to welcome @ss_friedman as International Policy Counsel! Susan joins our Government Relations team from @USTreasury and brings incredible legal and policy experience. Great to have her on board as we engage with policymakers worldwide. https://t.co/tg0lr3chAC
— Michelle Bond (@michellebond111) September 3, 2019
As reported by U.Today, Ripple CEO Brad Garlinghouse stated that regulators had to focus on disincentivizing "horrible behavior" in the wake of the FTX collapse.