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Former FTX Executive Denies Charges With 7.5-Year Prison Sentence

Key Points:

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame claims prosecutors broke a plea deal by continuing to investigate his girlfriend, Michelle Bond.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office refutes Salame’s claims, insisting no such deal was made.

According to Bloomberg, former FTX executive Ryan Salame is looking to overturn his conviction on the grounds that the charges were, in effect, a breach of a promise he made as part of a plea agreement to stop investigating his partner, Michelle Bond.

Former FTX Executive Seeks to Overturn Conviction Over Alleged Broken Plea Deal

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for illegal activities run at the collapsed cryptocurrency platform after claiming the federal prosecutors coerced his guilty plea by continuing to scrutinize his girlfriend, Michelle Bond.

According to his lawyers, in April 2023, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s Office agreed to shut down an investigation into Bond, a former congressional candidate and mother of his child, in return for a guilty plea. Salame claimed prosecutors broke the terms of his plea agreement and reopened the investigation.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office contended that Salame’s claims were untruthful and self-serving and that prosecutors explicitly told Salame that the terms of his plea agreement would not shield Bond from further investigation for his conduct.

Salame’s Legal Challenge Comes As FTX Probe Presses On

The dispute is part of a broader probe into the November 2022 implosion of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which imploded amid accusations of pervasive fraud.

Unlike other high-ranking FTX executives, Salame did not cooperate with prosecutors, and neither did he sign any cooperation agreement. His plea deal became part of far-reaching investigations against founder Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX, whom the prosecutors convicted for engineering one of the largest financial frauds ever committed and gave him a 25-year prison sentence.

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame asked U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to quash an indictment of Bond or set aside his conviction.

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Harold

With a passion for untangling the complexities of the financial world, I've spent over four years in financial journalism, covering everything from traditional equities to the cutting edge of venture capital. "The financial markets are a fascinating puzzle," I often say, "and I love helping people make sense of them." That's what drives me to bring clear and insightful financial journalism to the readers of Coincu.