Former FTX Executive Seeks to Withdraw Guilty Plea Amid Allegations of Prosecutorial Misconduct
- Former FTX executive Ryan Salame is attempting to reverse his guilty plea.
- He claims federal authorities did not honor their agreement to close the investigation into his partner.
- Salame was sentenced to 90 months in prison.
Ryan Salame, a former executive at the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has filed a motion in a New York federal court to withdraw his guilty plea related to campaign finance and money-transmitting offenses. Salame's legal team argues that the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office has failed to uphold a critical aspect of his plea agreement, which allegedly included a promise to cease investigations into his domestic partner, Michelle Bond, in exchange for his guilty plea. In the court filing, Salame's attorneys claim that prosecutors assured them in April 2023 that they would not pursue charges against Bond if Salame cooperated. This assurance was pivotal for Salame, who expressed a strong desire to protect Bond, the mother of his eight-month-old child. The motion requests either the annulment of Salame's guilty plea or enforcement of the prosecutors' commitment regarding Bond. Salame is scheduled to begin serving a 7.5-year prison sentence on October 13. In a social media post, he expressed anxiety over the court filing, stating that it could provoke further scrutiny from powerful entities but hoped it would inspire others to speak out against perceived injustices. Salame's charges are linked to a multi-million dollar campaign finance scheme during his time at FTX, which also implicated his former boss, Sam Bankman-Fried. While Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud and conspiracy, prosecutors chose not to pursue similar charges against him related to campaign finance violations. Other former FTX executives who cooperated with the investigation are awaiting sentencing.