NEW YORK — A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced former FTX executive Ryan Salame to more than seven years in prison, the first of failed cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried’s lieutenants to receive prison time for his roles in the stock market collapse. cryptocurrencies in 2022.
Salame, 30, was a top executive at FTX for most of the exchange’s existence and, until its collapse, was co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets. He pleaded guilty last year to making illegal contributions to the U.S. campaign and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business.
The sentence of 7 1/2 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release, was more than the five to seven years that prosecutors asked Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to impose on Salame in his pre-sentence memorandum.
Although Salame was a high-level executive at FTX, he did not play a major role in the government’s case against Bankman-Fried at his trial earlier this year and did not testify against him. In a plea for leniency, Salame said during the sentencing hearing that he cooperated and even provided documents that helped prosecutors in their interrogation of Bankman-Fried, as well as his own prosecution.
In addition to helping Bankman-Fried hide the holes in FTX’s balance sheet that led to the exchange’s failure, Salame was used as a conduit for Bankman-Fried to make illegal campaign contributions to help shape U.S. policy toward cryptocurrencies. On the surface, Bankman-Fried has primarily made political contributions to Democrats and liberal-leaning causes, while Salame has made contributions to Republicans and right-leaning causes.
But ultimately, the funds Salame used for these contributions came from Bankman-Fried.
Kaplan said Salame “knew exactly what he was doing… and the idea was to hide it from the world. Surprising!”
The judge also reprimanded Salame for withdrawing $5 million worth of cryptocurrencies from FTX while the exchange was failing.
“You tried to withdraw tens of millions more,” Kaplan said. “It was me first. I’ll get into the lifeboat first. To hell with all these customers.
Salame apologized to FTX clients and his family, saying he and others had good intentions, although he added: “I fully understand that the means I sought to achieve these goals were illegal.”
Before being sentenced, Salame made brief comments saying he was “starting my path to redemption.”
“I accept what comes next,” he said.
Three other high-level FTX executives are awaiting sentencing for their roles in the stock market collapse: Caroline Ellison, who was CEO of FTX hedge fund Alameda Research, Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, head of Engineering. All three cooperated with prosecutors and testified at the trial against Bankman-Fried in exchange for potentially suspended prison sentences.
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Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
