Former FTX executive Ryan Salame has begun serving a 7.5-year sentence at FCI Cumberland in Maryland for unlawful political contributions and operating an unlicensed business.
According to records, Ryan Salame, a former executive of FTX, has commenced his seven-and-a-half-year penitentiary sentence at a Maryland prison.
Salame, previously the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, is currently being held at FCI Cumberland in Maryland as of Saturday morning, according to the Federal Bureau of Prisons website.
The facility constitutes a “medium security federal correctional institution with an adjacent minimum security satellite camp.” According to its website, it has more than 1,000 inmates.
Salame appeared to be making light of his circumstances in a LinkedIn post he published on Thursday.
“I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as an Inmate at FCI Cumberland,” Salame communicated.
In September, Salame entered a guilty plea to conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and conspiracy to make illicit political contributions.
He collaborated closely with Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX. Following a criminal fraud trial that concluded late last year, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison in March. Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda, was sentenced to two years in prison last month for her involvement in the collapse of FTX.
Denial of Dog Assault Delay
Salame’s attorneys requested that the court permit him to commence his prison sentence on December 7 to receive medical treatment for an injury sustained during the summer that was caused by a dog. Salame had previously requested that his prison sentence be postponed from August to October to undergo essential surgery in the wake of the dog incident.
The court granted his request. According to a previous filing, Salame’s attorneys stated that he visited a doctor on July 3 and was evaluated “after sustaining a dog-bite injury to the face.”
U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan denied Salame’s request on Friday and stated that it appeared that Salame had “substantially recovered,” citing an interview he conducted with conservative political commentator Tucker Carlson.
“He recently participated in a videotaped interview with Tucker Carlon, during which he similarly appears physically recovered and entirely unimpaired while answering questions,” Kaplan said.
Salame criticized the judge during that interview, claiming that he “grabbed all these things that just weren’t true,” including when Salame claimed he had withdrawn money before FTX filed for bankruptcy.
During his sentencing hearing, Judge Kaplan stated that Salame prioritized his well-being, saying, “I am the first to board the lifeboat.” According to numerous news outlets, “Ignore all those customers.”
“The whole thing was odd, the whole experience of it,” according to Salame.
Michelle Bond, Salame’s companion, is also being charged. In August, she was criminally accused of the alleged conspiracy to participate in an unlawful campaign finance scheme.
In 2022, Bond unsuccessfully sought a seat in the United States House of Representatives in the 1st district of New York as a Republican.
Prosecutors alleged that Bond’s romantic companion, a “high-level executive at a Bahamas-based subsidiary of a now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange,” arranged a “sham consulting agreement” between Bond and the exchange shortly after that.
According to the indictment, the bond was allegedly compensated $400,000 under that agreement, which she allegedly utilized to finance her campaign illegally.
Salame has vigorously contested Bond’s allegations, alleging that prosecutors have employed plea negotiations to “threaten” his partner and the mother of his eight-month-old child. He also stated that he only pleaded guilty on the condition that the government cease its investigation of Bond.
Salame requested that the indictment against his companion be dismissed or, if not, that his conviction be reversed. Prosecutors have declared that Salame’s request is “factually baseless” and have explicitly stated that his guilty plea would not halt an investigation into Bond during a meeting in May 2023.
Salame stated in his interview with Carlson that he intends to instruct a course on the economy and digital assets while incarcerated.
