Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the cryptocurrency exchange at the center of one of the world’s largest financial crimes, is withdrawing his plea to void his seven-and-a-half-year sentence following a disagreement over the U.S. government’s investigation of his partner, Michelle Bond, a former congressional candidate.
Lawyers for the former FTX executive previously claimed prosecutors coerced Salame to plea guilty during negotiations by promising not to investigate Bond, his partner and the mother of his child. The 44-year-old former Republican congressional candidate has since been charged in connection to the exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s scheme to influence the U.S. electoral system.
U.S. Attorney General for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams alleged in late August that Bond unlawfully accepted campaign financing donations in connection to her unlawful run for Congress in 2022. Bond failed to disclose multiple investments from parties connected to FTX in her Federal Election Commission filings.
In a hearing on Thursday, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York described the defendant’s bid as “ambiguous” and “inconsistent” and reserved the right to file sanctions against the 31-year-old Salame.
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In August, Salame's lawyers asked for the New York court overseeing his case to either dismiss any indictment of Bond for campaign finance violations and, if not, vacate its previous conviction of Salame for making unlawful political contributions and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York previously denied the claim that Salame agreed to plead guilty if Bond would not face a criminal investigation. On Thursday, lead prosecutor Danielle R. Sassoon argued there was no formal agreement between the U.S. government and Salame’s attorneys not to investigate Bond.
The move comes as former head of FTX's sister organization Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison — a star witness in the high-profile case against Bankman-Fried — seeks to avoid prison time for her role in perpetrating a multi-billion fraud against exchange customers and investors.
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