Legal Team Proposes 18-Month Sentence for Former FTX Digital Markets Co-CEO Ryan Salame
Summary:
Ryan Salame's legal team has proposed an 18-month prison sentence for the former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO, contending that aside from the extensive restitution and forfeiture commitments, such a term would be fitting. This follows Salame's 2023 confession to planning an unlicensed money-transmission business and participating in election financing fraud. Since then, Salame has been released on a $1 million bond and is expected to pay around $12 million in penalties along with the forfeiture of assets, leaving him with no remaining properties.
Counsel for Ryan Salame, former joint chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, has proposed a maximum prison sentence of 18 months. Filed on May 14 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the legal team for Salame contended, beyond the "extensive restitution and forfeiture commitments" put forth by the ex-FTX executive, a prison term capped at 18 months would be "fitting." Salame confessed in September 2023 to planning an unregulated money-transmission business and participating in election financing fraud. He is slated to receive his sentence from Judge Lewis Kaplan on May 28.
The defense team asserted in the May 14 sentencing memorandum that Salame was completely oblivious to the deception and theft perpetrated by the main individuals at Alameda and FTX. "Ryan didn't defraud anyone. He never lied to his clients. And like everyone else, he was deceived into thinking that these businesses were legal, solvent, and noticeably prosperous."
The court document continued, "As revealed by Caroline Ellison during Bankman-Fried's trial, even while FTX was spiraling downwards on November 6, 2022, she and Bankman-Fried plotted to keep Ryan ignorant of their fraudulent operation, misleading him as they had the rest of the world." (Source: Courtlistener)
Salame reported FTX's fraudulent business practices to the Bahamas' Securities Commission on Nov. 9, 2022. This was mere two days before former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried resigned and the exchange declared bankruptcy. Bankman-Fried was subsequently deported from the Bahamas to the U.S. and found guilty on seven felony offenses. He received a 25-year prison sentence in March.
Salame's attorneys believe an 18-month sentence for the ex-FTX executive is just because he played a minimal role in the conspiracies to which he confessed, and he is not likely to commit similar offenses. Contrary to Bankman-Fried's case, which appears to have deterred those in the crypto world, Salame has "genuinely acknowledged his wrongdoings."
Related: Statements of harm from FTX victims precede Sam Bankman-Fried's sentencing
It is expected that the former executive would be the second person linked to FTX and Alameda Research to be sentenced, following Bankman-Fried. Caroline Ellison, former Alameda CEO, Gary Wang FTX co-founder, and Nishad Singh former FTX engineering director, all confessed to the charges and testified against SBF during his criminal trial, although it is uncertain whether they would be imprisoned.
Since his guilty plea in 2023, Salame has been released on a bond of $1 million. Under the terms of his agreement with the prosecutors, he has to pay about $6 million in fines to the U.S. government and $6 million to FTX creditors, as well as forfeit two properties and a company. His legal team claimed this would result in him being left with "zero remaining assets." Magazine: Should we trust crypto exchanges in the wake of FTX's collapse?
Published At
5/15/2024 9:29:54 PM
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