DOJ Cracks Down On FTX Connections

In the latest development in the ongoing FTX saga, federal prosecutors have charged Michelle Bond, the domestic partner of former FTX executive Ryan Salame

The latest development in the ongoing FTX saga sees federal prosecutors charging Michelle Bond, the domestic partner of former FTX executive Ryan Salame, with violating campaign finance laws. This comes just a day after Salame made a last-ditch effort to have his conviction vacated or blocked.

According to the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, Bond, who unsuccessfully ran for a congressional seat in New York last year, allegedly used $400,000 from the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, where her partner was an executive, to finance her campaign.

The US Department of Justice (DOJ) deemed Bond's actions a clear violation of laws prohibiting corporate contributions to political campaigns. US Attorney Damian Williams said:

“As alleged, Michelle Bond and her co-conspirator romantic partner attempted to fund her campaign for the US House of Representatives by illegally using hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate coffers, among other sources, and then lying to Congress and others to cover it all up. Misconduct by those campaigning for public office undermines public trust in American elections and in representative government more broadly. This Office is committed to holding elected officials and candidates accountable if they break the law.”

While prosecutors did not explicitly name Salame or FTX in their announcement, the connection was clear. Salame, who pleaded guilty last year to making tens of millions of dollars in unlawful campaign contributions to boost causes supported by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, had recently urged a judge to vacate his guilty plea.

In his court filing, Salame accused prosecutors of reneging on an assurance they would not investigate Bond – whom he described as the mother of his child – if he pleaded guilty.

Prosecutors have seemingly disregarded that promise, expanding their investigation into the web of financial and political entanglements surrounding the collapse of the FTX exchange.

Bond, also a former cryptocurrency trade group Association for Digital Asset Markets employee, faces four criminal counts, including causing and receiving an unlawful contribution and causing and receiving a straw contribution.

The prosecutors have not yet disclosed the bond's sentence date. On the other hand, Salame faces a 7-and-a-half-year prison sentence starting October 13.

At the time of writing, FTX’s native token FTT is trading at $1.48, posting significant gains of over 13% in the last 24 hours alone, along with a 300% increase in trading volume to $37 million, according to CoinGecko data.

However, the FTT token is down 98% from its all-time high of $84 reached in September 2021, just before the exchange collapsed under the leadership of its former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence.