Ryan Salame Exposes Government Betrayal in Broken FTX Plea Deal!

Key Points:

• FTX executive urges the court to enforce a plea deal that promised to end the investigation into his partner, Michelle Bond.
• Despite Salame’s guilty plea, federal prosecutors continue investigating Bond for campaign finance violations related to her 2022 congressional run.
• Lawyers request either halting the Bond investigation or revoking Salame’s 7.5-year sentence if the government doesn’t honour its deal.

According to a recent court filing, attorneys for Ryan Salame, the former FTX executive convicted and serving 7.5 years in prison, have requested that a court compel the government to uphold its end of the FTX plea deal agreement between Salame and the U.S. government.

Salame’s Legal Team Pushes for Enforcement of FTX Plea Deal

According to reports, that pact—the linchpin of Salame’s decision to FTX plea deal guilty—had the government agreeing to drop an investigation into Michelle Bond, Salame’s partner and a well-known U.S. Republican congressional candidate who now serves as the CEO of a fintech think tank.

Things have since taken a turn as Manhattan federal prosecutors persist in investigating Bond for campaign finance violations involving Salame’s donations to her 2022 congressional campaign. Based on this continuing investigation, Salame’s lawyers reason that the government broke its promise to their client, thus breaching the FTX plea deal.

Read more: Former FTX Exec Ryan Salame Seeks Delay in Prison Surrender Due to Surgery

Ryan Salame Seeks to Overturn Conviction if Promise is Not Upheld

Salame—reversing his September 2023 guilty FTX plea deal to campaign finance violations and running an unlicensed money transmission business—maintains that prosecutors promised him that Bond would not be subject to any further criminal liability based on his cooperation, according to the filing. Federal prosecutors used plea negotiations to “threaten Michelle Bond,” the filing alleges, and the government broke its promise to stop investigating Bond if Salame pleaded guilty.

As such, Salame’s lawyers are crying for the court to enforce the original agreement by stopping the investigation of Bond or quashing Salame’s conviction entirely. In connection, it is argued that Salame can assert his right to require the government to honour his commitment to dismiss the petition against Bond or order specific performance.