Joe.My.God. LGBT News
From the Justice Department:
Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that RYAN SALAME was sentenced today to 90 months in prison.
SALAME previously pled guilty to conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Federal Election Commission and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business before U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, who imposed today’s sentence.
RYAN SALAME was a high-ranking official at Alameda Research, the quantitative cryptocurrency trading firm founded by Samuel Bankman-Fried, from 2019 to 2021. In or about October 2021, SALAME was named co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian affiliate FTX Digital Markets Ltd.
While working at Alameda Research and FTX, SALAME conspired with Bankman-Fried and other employees of FTX and Alameda Research to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business, unlawfully using FTX, Alameda Research, and an entity called “North Dimension” to transmit FTX customer funds without a license.
The conspirators and others at Alameda Research and FTX also made false statements to U.S. banks in order to maintain their unlawful businesses.
Additionally, beginning in or around 2020, SALAME conspired with Bankman-Fried and FTX executive Nishad Singh to donate campaign contributions in a manner that obscured Bankman-Fried’s association with certain of the contributions.
These donations were made to improve Bankman-Fried’s personal standing in Washington, D.C., increase FTX’s profile, and curry favor with candidates that could help pass legislation favorable to FTX, Alameda, or Bankman-Fried’s personal agenda.
In total, SALAME and his co-conspirators made over 300 political contributions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, that were unlawful because they were made in the name of a straw donor or paid for with corporate funds and caused false information to be reported by campaigns and political action committees to the Federal Election Commission.
In addition to the prison term, SALAME, 30, of Potomac, Maryland, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.
Read the full press release. Salame just tweeted.
Ryan Salame, part of the ‘inner circle’ at collapsed crypto exchange FTX, sentenced to prison https://t.co/fYtZ7c89Iy
— The Associated Press (@AP) May 28, 2024
Yah terrible tweet, like the worst. I get it, I’ve cringed reading it nearly every day since I found out half of ftx customers money was somehow missing. https://t.co/LDbl4AzU6H
— Ryan Salame (@rsalame7926) May 28, 2024
Ryan Salame, a former top lieutenant of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, followed by 3 years of supervised release.
Salame was also ordered to pay over $6 million in forfeiture and over $5 million in restitution. https://t.co/eDENSap9UR
— NBC News (@NBCNews) May 28, 2024