Former FTX exec Ryan Salame sentenced to 7.5 years, above government ask 

The sentencing of former FTX exec Ryan Salame is the first among those who pleaded guilty to crimes related to the exchange’s collapse

article-image

ESB Professional/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

A federal judge sentenced former FTX executive Ryan Salame to 7.5 years in prison in Manhattan Tuesday, according to a report from Bloomberg. 

The ruling falls just above the government’s request of five to seven years in prison. Salame’s team earlier this month asked Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial last fall, for 18 months in prison. 

Salame in September pleaded guilty to two counts of campaign finance violations and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. By acting as a “straw donor,” the government says, Salame helped “pump more than $100 million dollars in illegal contributions through the US political system to help support Bankman-Fried and FTX’s legislative priorities.” 

Salame is the first among Bankman-Fried’s former associates to be sentenced. He is the only one of the four former FTX executives who pleaded guilty that did not testify against Bankman-Fried during his trial. 

Salame’s minimal cooperation, the prosecution said in their sentencing memo earlier this month, meant his contributions to the case against Bankman-Fried were “relatively minor.” 

Salame did hand over some last-minute information to government attorneys in the days before Bankman-Fried’s trial, the government’s memo added, which was helpful during the cross-examination of some witnesses. But, “none of the information resulted in any significant investigative leads, arrests, or charges,” the government told the court.

When asking for leniency, Salame’s team told the court he “has started a new chapter in his life,” adding that he became a first-time father in November and is working toward becoming a lawyer. 

Read more: Empire Newsletter: FTX bankruptcy almost across the finish line

Salame was “duped” by Bankman-Fried, his attorneys said, and was “the first person to blow the whistle to authorities in the Bahamas” when he uncovered the nature of the fraud. 

The prosecution on Monday evening asked the court to partially vacate and amend the previous forfeiture and money judgment agreements. Salame’s 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S no longer has “sufficient equity to further pursue forfeiture,” the government noted, and should therefore be returned. 

The prosecution also approved Salame’s request for an extension to pay the $6 million he owes the government and asked the court to push the due date for the payment to Sept. 3, 2024. 

Former executives Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, who all testified against Bankman-Fried last fall and entered into formal cooperation agreements with the government, have not yet been sentenced. Singh’s sentencing hearing has been scheduled for November while Ellison and Wang’s dates are not yet on the calendar.

In March, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the On the Margin newsletter.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

recent research

Research Report Templates (1).png

Research

Solana Mobile is a highly ambitious foray into the mobile consumer hardware market, seeking to open up a crypto-native distribution channel for mobile-first applications. The market for Solana Mobile devices has demonstrated a phenomenon whereby external market actors (e.g. Solana-native projects) continuously underwrite subsidies to Mobile consumers. The value of these subsidies, coming in the form of airdrops, trial programs, and exclusive NFT mints, have consistently covered the cost of the phone and generated positive returns for consumers. Given this trend in subsidies, the unit economics in the market for Mobile devices, and the initial growth rate and trajectory of sales, it should be expected that Solana mobile can clear 1M to 10M units over the coming years. As more devices circulate amongst users, Solana Mobile presents a promising venue for the emergence of killer-applications uniquely enabled by this mobile-first, crypto-native distribution channel.

article-image

Analysts are looking ahead to August, a historically volatile month made more interesting this year by the US presidential election

article-image

Plus, a look into Lighting Labs’ newest feature

article-image

Crypto’s Wild West era is over — it’s time to embrace regulation to secure the future of digital assets

article-image

Plus, Solana has now surpassed Ethereum in trailing 30-day decentralized exchange volume

article-image

Polymarket betters say Kamala Harris has better odds than Biden of winning against Trump