Former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame pleads guilty, forfeits $1.55B News ▸ FTX ▸ Bankruptcy
Former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame pleads guilty, forfeits $1.55B
Salame's testimony holds potential significance, particularly regarding the illegal campaign finance charges against Bankman-Fried..
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Updated: Sep. 8, 2023 at 8:49 am UTC
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Former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame is expected to plead guilty to the criminal charges against him on Thursday, Bloomberg reported on Sept. 7.
Salame was jointly in charge of FTX Digital Markets with Sam Bankman-Fried before the exchange collapsed last November.
The former executive is scheduled to appear at the Manhattan federal court on Thursday to plead guilty. This development comes about a month prior to the scheduled start of Bankman-Fried’s trial, in which he faces multiple felony charges.
As part of the agreement, he consented to a money judgment of $1.55 billion representing property involved in the offense.
The plea agreement also requires Salame to forfeit four substitute assets to help satisfy the judgment: two homes in Lenox, Massachusetts; his ownership in a farm corporation; and a 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S. Salame agreed to transfer all assets to the government before his sentencing and pay $6 million by that date.
If Salame fulfills the requirements, the government agreed not to seek further substitute assets. But if he fails to transfer all agreed-upon assets by sentencing, the government may take action to seize other assets up to the full $1.55 billion.
Former associates likely to testify.
Salame’s guilty plea implies that the Department of Justice now has four former associates of Bankman-Fried, including Salame, to testify against him. The others include the exchange’s co-founder Gary Wang, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX executive Nishad Singh.
Salame’s testimony holds potential significance, particularly regarding the illegal campaign finance charges against SBF. Although these charges were temporarily removed from the upcoming October trial due to an extradition treaty, they are slated for inclusion in a subsequent trial next year.
During his tenure at FTX, Salame emerged as a substantial Republican Party contributor, channeling $24 million to various candidates. With prosecutors alleging that SBF directed political donations through other executives, Salame’s testimony could substantiate these claims.
Despite SBF’s persistent claims of innocence, emphasizing reliance on expert advice, the situation has taken a turn since the court revoked his bail.
Updated 8:45 am Sept. 8 to include forfeiture.
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FTX
FTX is a defunct cryptocurrency exchange, currently in bankruptcy proceedings, that was founded by Sam Bankman-Fried and Zixiao “Gary” Wang in May 2019.
Sam Bankman-Fried is the former CEO, and co-founder of defunct crypto exchange FTX and Alameda Research.
Ryan Salame is the former co-CEO at FTX Digital Markets (FDM), the Bahamian subsidiary of FTX Trading Limited.
Caroline Ellison is the former lead trader and former CEO at Alameda Research.