Ex-FTX leader updates LinkedIn profile with prison stint
Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, has decided to take a light-hearted approach to his upcoming prison sentence. He announced his new "position" as an inmate at FCI Cumberland on LinkedIn. The 31-year-old is due to start an almost eight-year prison term today for making illegal campaign donations worth tens of millions of dollars. The money was used to support Sam Bankman-Fried's political ambitions.
Salame's prison and his role in the case
Salame will be serving his sentence at FCI Cumberland, a medium-security federal prison for male offenders in Maryland. The prison has over 1,000 inmates on its main site and an adjacent minimum security satellite camp. Although he did not cooperate in the federal trial against Bankman-Fried, Salame submitted nearly 600,000 pages of documents to authorities and tipped them off about illicit fund transfers within FTX.
Plea deal and forfeiture
Salame's prison term is harsher than what prosecutors had originally sought. He had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make illegal political contributions and another count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business. As part of his plea deal, Salame was also ordered to forfeit over $1.5 billion. However, prosecutors allowed him to keep $6 million, two Massachusetts properties, and a 2021 Porsche as part of the agreement terms.
Salame's plea deal motivation and recent allegations
In a recent interview, Salame revealed that his decision to enter the plea was motivated by a desire to protect his wife, crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond. However, he has since attempted to retract his plea. He accused prosecutors of reneging on their promise to halt their investigation into Bond in return for his guilty plea—an allegation that the Manhattan US Attorney's Office has categorically denied.
Bankman-Fried's sentence and Salame's pardon hopes
Earlier this year, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to a 25-year prison term for embezzling $8 billion from FTX customers. Now, Salame is hoping for a pardon from the winner of the upcoming US presidential election. "I'd be much more shocked if Kamala Harris would grant it based on, sort of, political things," said Salame, who has donated north of $22 million to Republicans while serving at FTX.
