Ryan Salame, the former CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ltd, a subsidiary of bankrupt FTX Exchange in the Bahamas, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison and three years of probation on Tuesday evening, becoming the first deputy of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) to be convicted. Salame, who had reached a plea agreement with the prosecution, had requested leniency from the judge this month, hoping for a sentence of 18 months imprisonment, which has now been officially rejected.
Salame, 30 years old, reached a plea agreement with the US prosecutors in September last year, admitting to charges including illegal political donations of millions of dollars to both parties in the US, fraud against the Federal Election Commission, and conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmission business, all under the instructions of SBF. He was also one of the four FTX executives who pleaded guilty and became a cooperating witness for the prosecution. SBF, on the other hand, was sentenced to 25 years in prison at the end of March and had over $11 billion in assets confiscated. His lawyers are currently preparing an appeal.
According to The New York Times, Salame’s sentence of seven and a half years exceeds the prosecution’s request for five to seven years of imprisonment and is far longer than the defense’s request for 18 months. This demonstrates the firm stance of Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who stated during the sentencing that the defendant’s crimes were “shocking” and that it was necessary to impose a long prison term in order to send a message to the wealthy about the consequences of “distorting America’s electoral system and its rules.”
In a statement from the US Department of Justice on Tuesday, Damian Williams, the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, stated that Salame’s defense of not being aware of SBF’s core group misappropriating billions of dollars of FTX customer funds was baseless. Salame’s defense attorney had argued during the sentencing hearing in mid-May for leniency, requesting a reduction of the sentence to 18 months. They claimed that Salame had not been involved in the core fraudulent activities of the SBF group and highlighted his cooperation with authorities, genuine remorse, and the significant personal and financial losses he suffered as a result of the exchange’s collapse.
However, the prosecution criticized Salame in a court memorandum for withdrawing $5 million from the exchange after its collapse, using the funds for personal expenses and hiring a public relations firm. He also withdrew $600,000 from the FTX US platform account a few hours before the bankruptcy. In fact, Salame’s motive for the crimes was money and expanding his influence.
When Salame pleaded guilty last year, he was ordered to forfeit over $1.5 billion in assets and agreed to pay $5.5 million to FTX’s creditors and a $6 million fine to the government. Salame will also surrender two properties in Massachusetts and his Porsche.
[img]
Related Reports:
– FTX extends creditor application until Q3 this year; how to confirm completed claim KYC?
– FTX liquidation progress guide: Full compensation promised, but victims should not celebrate too soon; SOL dumped; repayment to begin in September at the earliest.
– FTX victims can receive 18% interest, creditors criticize: Deceptive tactics to manipulate the market, most people are still at a loss.