FTX exec who turned on Sam Bankman-Fried sentenced to 7.5 years in prison

Ryan
Salame,
a
former
top
lieutenant
of

FTX
founder
Sam
Bankman-Fried,
has
been
sentenced
to
90
months,
or
seven
and
a
half
years,
in
prison,
followed
by
three
years
of
supervised
release.
Salame
has
also

been
ordered
to
pay
more
than
$6
million
in
forfeiture
and
more
than
$5
million
in
restitution.

The
sentence
is
a
heavier
penalty
than
the
five
to
seven
years
that
prosecutors
had
suggested
and
well
beyond
the
18
months
that
Salame’s
defense
team
had
requested.

In
September,

Salame
pleaded
guilty
to
conspiracy
to
make
unlawful
political
contributions,
defraud
the
Federal
Election
Commission,
and
conspiracy
to
operate
an
unlicensed
money-transmitting
business.

Judge
Lewis

Kaplan
sentenced
Sam
Bankman-Fried
to
25
years
in
prison
in
March.

In
2021,
Salame
transitioned
from
a
high-ranking
post
at
Bankman-Fried’s
crypto
hedge
fund,
Alameda
Research,
to
co-CEO
of
FTX’s
Bahamian
subsidiary,
FTX
Digital
Markets.
Salame
spent
millions
on
real
estate
and
campaign
donations
during
his
tenure.

One
estimate
by
Bahamian
lawyers claims
that
Bankman-Fried
and
Salame
spent
$256.3
million
to
buy
and
maintain
35
properties
across
New
Providence
—
real
estate
that
Bahamian
regulators
wanted
to
retrieve
in
FTX’s
U.S.
bankruptcy
protection
proceedings.
Meanwhile,
data
from
the

Federal
Election
Commission
shows
that
Salame
gave
more
than
$24
million
to
Republican
candidates
and
causes
in
the
2022
election
cycle.

Days
before

FTX
filed
for
bankruptcy
in
2022,
Salame
went
to
Bahamian
authorities
to
tell
them
that
the
Bankman-Fried
may
have
committed
fraud
by
sending
customer
money
from
the
crypto
exchange
to
his
other
firm,
Alameda
Research.
According
to
a
criminal
filing,
Salame
disclosed
“possible
mishandling
of
clients’
assets”
by
Bankman-Fried.

It
was
one
of
the
first
public
acknowledgments
of
an
insider
turning
on
Bankman-Fried,
who
was
found

guilty
of
stealing
more
than
$8
billion
worth
of
customer
cash
they
believed
was
being
safely
stored
on
the
exchange.

Since
then,
however,

several
other
insiders,
including
Alameda’s
former
CEO
and
SBF’s
ex-girlfriend,

Caroline
Ellison,

FTX
co-founder
Gary
Wang,
and
FTX’s
ex-engineering
head

Nishad
Singh,
all
gave
testimony
for
the
prosecution
that
ultimately
contributed
to
his
guilty
verdict
in
November.
Salame
did
not
take
the
stand
during
Bankman-Fried’s
trial.

In
a
statement,
U.S.
attorney
Damian
Williams
said
Tuesday’s
sentence
underscored
“the
substantial
consequences
for
such
offenses.” 

“Salame’s
involvement
in
two
serious
federal
crimes
undermined
public
trust
in
American
elections
and
the
integrity
of
the
financial
system,”
Williams
added.

Former
state
and
federal
prosecutor
Mark
Bini
told
CNBC
the
sentence
underscored
that
the
judge
viewed
the
fraud
at
FTX,
including
the
multi-million
dollar
campaign
finance
scheme
in
which
Salame
was
directly
involved,
as
extremely
serious.

“While
Salame’s
counsel
sought
to
argue
that
his
production
of
documents
to
the
Government
showed
his
cooperation
and
contrition,
it’s
clear
that
Judge
Kaplan
did
not
view
it
that
way,”
said
Bini.

Salame
is
the
first
of
SBF’s
executive
team
to
be
sentenced
since
the
exchange
filed
for
bankruptcy
in
Nov.
2022.

—

CNBC’s
Dan
Mangan
contributed
to
this
report.