Ex-FTX executive Ryan Salam is seeking to have his conviction dropped. Salam's lawyers said prosecutors did not cut their deal to drop the investigation into Salam's partner. Prosecutors said the claims were “incompetent, incomplete and completely false”.
Former FTX executive Ryan Salam, who pleaded guilty in September 2023 to two counts of campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes, is now seeking to have his guilty plea dropped.
On August 21, Salam asked the court to overturn his conviction, saying prosecutors had broken an agreement not to try his fiancee against Michelle Bond, a former congressional candidate in 2022.
He said the government had indicated it would drop its investigation into Bond if he pleaded guilty.
In a filing the same day, the lawyers asked the court to reject Salam's petition, calling it “legally meritless”. Instead, US Attorney Damian Williams argued that Salam was trying to “avoid his severe punishment for his involvement in an illegal campaign finance scheme on an unprecedented scale.”
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan began Investigate Salam and bond in 2023 for potential campaign finance violations. The investigation focused on funds Salame gave to Bond, a former Republican congressional candidate, and loans used to finance her campaign.
In April 2023, authorities executed a search warrant at their $4 million Maryland mansion.
Salam, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in May. He was the first co-conspirator to be convicted of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
Salame is 'self-serving' tactics
Advocates of Salam will argue The government must either dismiss the charges against Bond or allow his conviction to be withdrawn. “Yet the government failed to keep its word, recently reopening its investigation of Bond and pursuing her criminal charges,” Salam's lawyers wrote. Filing.
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He is Said in X He's nervous about filing the petition, but hopes it will encourage others to stand up against “un-American tactics.”
Prosecutors told the court that Salam must deny his “shameless and self-serving attempt” to withdraw the charges after his conviction.
“Salaam resorted to inaccurate, incomplete and outright false statements in an attempt to escape his severe punishment,” Williams said in a court filing.
Williams said Salam misrepresented his statements regarding the bond.
For example, at a meeting in May 2023, prosecutors told Salam's attorneys that the indictment “will not stop the ongoing investigation into Bond's conduct,” William said.
The lawyers asked the court to give them until September 6 to fully respond to Salameh's request.
Bankman-Fried is a Republican donor
During his time at FTX, Salameh was often responsible for then-CEO Sam Bankman-Fried's checkbook, including securing premises in the Bahamas after the company moved from Hong Kong, according to Michael Lewis in his book “Going Infinite.”
When Bankman-Fried decided to move FTX from Hong Kong to the Bahamas, he sent Salam to pick up property for the company and its employees.
Salameh became the Republican face of Bankman-Fried's political donation efforts, sending money to various GOP candidates, including Bond, with whom he has a child.
His sentence will begin in October.
Callan Quinn is an Asia correspondent and Joanna Wright is a regulatory correspondent News. Got a tip? Email them [email protected] or [email protected].