U.S. prosecutors rejected claims by former FTX executive Ryan Salame that they breached a plea agreement, stating they made no promises regarding potential indictments against his partner, Michelle Bond.
Salame, who was previously co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, pleaded guilty in September to charges of conspiring to make unlawful political contributions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
Last month, Salame accused the government of misconduct, claiming that his guilty plea was based on an alleged promise by prosecutors to drop an investigation into Bond. Bond was later charged with financing her 2022 congressional campaign in New York using “illicitly obtained funds.”
Salame’s lawyers claim that the U.S. government used plea negotiations to “threaten” Bond, the mother of his child, and promised to cease their investigation into her if Salame accepted a plea deal. However, the government has since resumed its investigation into Bond and is pursuing an indictment, which Salame’s legal team argues is a breach of the agreement.
Prosecutors say they had clarified with Salame’s lawyers that any plea agreement with him would not halt ongoing investigations into Bond. In a court filing on Thursday, they stated that Salame’s claims of government breach are “wrong on the facts and the law.”
The filing further revealed allegations that Salame used personally identifiable information from individuals “identified as Thai prostitutes” to open accounts at FTX and supervised bribe payments to immigration authorities.
Prosecutors claim that Salame failed to raise these claims before his sentencing, stating, “Salame did not raise his current claims prior to sentencing, nor did he raise them at sentencing, including prior to learning what his sentence would be.”
Salame pleaded guilty in September to charges of conspiring to make unlawful political contributions and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. He was previously the co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary and worked closely with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.
Salame was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison. He was scheduled for sentencing on August 29 but requested a delay until October 13 to undergo urgent surgery following a dog attack.
According to a letter submitted to Judge Lewis Kaplan, Salame was “mauled by a German Shepherd” on June 29.
Salame managed wire deposits and fiat currency conversions for FTX customers, participated in political contributions using Alameda funds, and led charitable initiatives in The Bahamas. His attorneys argue that his involvement was primarily operational rather than central to the fraud perpetrated by Sam Bankman-Fried.
