Former FTX executive Ryan Salame sentenced to more than 7 years in prison

Salame, 30, was a high-ranking executive at FTX for most of the exchange's existence and, up until its collapse, was the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets.

A former top executive at bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX was sentenced Tuesday to more than seven years in prison for illegally making U.S. campaign contributions and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Ryan Salame, 30, was a high-ranking executive at FTX for most of the exchange's existence and, up until its collapse, was the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets. He pleaded guilty last year to the campaign finance and money-transmitting offenses.

Salame was the first of Sam Bankman-Fried's lieutenants to be sentenced for their roles in the 2022 collapse of FTX. Several other executives at the failed exchange, including Bankman-Fried himself, are awaiting sentencing.

Salame was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan to 7 1/2 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release. Prosecutors had asked Kaplan to sentence Salame to five to seven years in prison, while Salame's lawyers had sought a sentence of probation.

Kaplan said Salame “knew precisely what he was doing … and the whole idea was to hide it from the world. Astonishing!”

The judge also noted that Salame pulled $5 million in cryptocurrencies out of FTX as the exchange was failing.

“You tried to withdraw tens of millions more,” Kaplan said. “It was me first. I’m getting in the lifeboat first. To heck with all those customers.”

Salame apologized to FTX customers and his family, saying that he and others had good intentions, though he added: “I fully understand that the means I sought to achieve these goals were illegal.”

Before he was sentenced, Salame gave brief remarks saying he was “beginning my path to redemption.”

“I accept what’s next,” he said.

While Salame was a high-level executive at FTX, he was not a major part of the government's case against Bankman-Fried at his trial earlier this year and did not testify against him.

In a bid for leniency, Salame said during the sentencing hearing that he cooperated and even provided documents that aided prosecutors in their cross examination of Bankman-Fried, as well as in his own prosecution.

Along with helping Bankman-Fried hide the holes in FTX's balance sheet that ultimately led to the exchange's failure, Salame was used as a conduit for Bankman-Fried to make illegal campaign contributions to help shape U.S. policy on cryptocurrencies.

On the surface, Bankman-Fried mostly gave political contributions to Democrats and liberal-leaning causes, while Salame gave contributions to Republicans and right-leaning causes.

But ultimately the funds that Salame used for those contributions came from Bankman-Fried, who has said he directed the contributions to both sides of the aisle in an effort to “get favorable treatment from both parties.”

Three other high-level executives at FTX are awaiting sentencing for their roles in the exchange's collapse: Caroline Ellison, who was CEO of the FTX hedge fund Alameda Research, Gary Wang, the co-founder of FTX, and Nishad Singh, FTX's head of engineering.

Ellison and Singh pleaded guilty to fraud and other charges last year, while Wang pleaded guilty to a wire fraud charge. All three cooperated with prosecutors and testified at trial against Bankman-Fried in exchange for potentially suspended prison sentences.

Bankman-Fried was convicted by a jury in December on multiple fraud and conspiracy charges. He faces up to 115 years in prison when he is sentenced on June 13.