FTX executive Ryan Salame seeks to void guilty plea

Ryan Salame, a former top lieutenant at the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, asked a New York federal judge Wednesday to void his guilty plea to campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes, saying prosecutors are reneging on a key element of his plea agreement.

Salame’s lawyers in a court filing said the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office, in an effort to get him to plead guilty last September, told the attorneys and Salame in April 2023 that they would stop investigating his domestic partner Michelle Bond for campaign finance violations if he pleaded guilty.

“Considering Salame’s manifest desire to protect Bond” — who is the mother of his eight-month-old child — “Salame responded by agreeing to enter into a plea agreement,” the filing said.

“Yet the Government failed to abide by its word, recently resuming its investigation into Bond and pursuing an indictment against her,” defense attorneys wrote.

The lawyers asked Manhattan U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan for either an order setting aside Salame’s guilty plea “on the basis of the Government’s breach,” or an order that prosecutors abide by their promise not to pursue criminal charges against Bond.

CNBC has requested comment from the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Salame is due to begin serving a 7-and-a-half-year prison sentence on Oct. 13. Salame also was ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.

In a social media post about the filing, Salame wrote: “It’s all true but I just made a court filing I’m pretty nervous about because I know it means the most powerful body in the world is going to come at me and my loved ones again, but I’m hoping it encourages more people to be honest and tell the truth and expose un-American.”

Salame was not a cooperating witness in the FTX criminal probe, but he testified at the criminal trial last fall of his former boss at FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of a massive fraud and conspiracy, and sentenced in March to 25 years in prison.

The charges against Salame stemmed from his involvement in a multi-million dollar campaign finance scheme during his tenure at FTX.

Bankman-Fried was allegedly also deeply involved in the campaign finance scheme.

But prosecutors opted not to pursue similar charges against Bankman-Fried after he had already been convicted by a jury on seven counts related to securities fraud and money laundering.

Three other cooperating witnesses who testified against Bankman-Fried at trial, and who pleaded guilty, are awaiting sentencing.

They include Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, who at one time dated Bankman-Fried.

Also convicted were former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh; and Gary Wang, the co-founder and chief technology officer of FTX.

Singh and Wang will be sentenced Oct. 30 and Nov. 20, respectively.

Ellison’s sentencing has not been scheduled yet.