Key Takeaways:
- Former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for conspiracy and campaign finance fraud.
- Salame’s actions, including an illegal political influence campaign, contributed to FTX’s rapid growth and subsequent collapse.
- Salame will pay $12 million in penalties and forfeit properties, leaving him with potentially no remaining assets except a 2021 Porsche.
Former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison after pleading guilty to two felony charges: conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business and campaign finance fraud.
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York delivered the sentence on May 28.
Former FTX Exec Ryan Salame Gets 7.5 Years In Prisonhttps://t.co/BMdjW6WsuT pic.twitter.com/8AziquQnmh
— Forbes (@Forbes) May 28, 2024
Salame’s involvement in an illegal political influence campaign and operating an unlicensed business contributed to the rapid growth of FTX and undermined public trust in the financial system and elections, according to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Salame had alerted the Securities Commission of the Bahamas to FTX’s fraudulent activities just days before the company’s collapse in November 2022.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned and was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for multiple felony counts.
Prosecutors initially recommended a seven-year sentence for Salame, but his lawyers argued for 18 months, citing his minor role in the conspiracies.
Bankman-Fried lieutenant Ryan Salame gets 7.5 years in prison for role in FTX debacle.
— FORTUNE (@FortuneMagazine) May 28, 2024
(via @FortuneCrypto) https://t.co/I09p3ZxJ1r
Salame will pay $12 million in penalties and surrender properties and a business, potentially leaving him with no remaining assets except a 2021 Porsche.
Salame is the second FTX-related figure to be sentenced, following Bankman-Fried.
No, I'm going to jail for campaign finance fraud and unlicensed money transmitting
— Ryan Salame (@rsalame7926) May 28, 2024
Other key figures, including former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX engineering director Nishad Singh, and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, have pleaded guilty and are awaiting sentencing.
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