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☆ Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Expected to Plead Guilty in Crypto Exchange’s Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

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Persons: Dow Jones, ryan

☆ Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Expected to Plead Guilty in Crypto-Exchange’s Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: Dow Jones, ryan

☆ Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Pleads Guilty in Crypto Exchange’s Collapse
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( James Fanelli | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Persons: Dow Jones, ryan

☆ A 4th FTX executive reportedly plans to plead guilty over crypto exchange's collapse, isolating Sam Bankman-Fried ahead of trial
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges. Salame would be the fourth top official in the exchange to plead guilty to charges brought by the US Attorney's office in Manhattan. Sam Bankman-Fried, the company's former CEO and founder, is scheduled to go to trial on fraud and conspiracy charges in October. It's not immediately clear which charges Salame may plead guilty to and whether he will testify at Bankman-Fried's trial, as the other former executives are expected to. Within FTX, Salame connected Bankman-Fried to political power brokers and helped try to legitimize cryptocurrency in the corridors of Washington, DC.

Persons: Ryan Salame, Sam Bankman, Salame, It's, Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Haven, Egresitz Organizations: Service, US, of, Prosecutors, Alameda Research, Justice Department, Heritage, Democratic, Republican Locations: Wall, Silicon, Manhattan, Southern, of New York, Bankman, Massachusetts, Lenox —, Washington, DC, United States, Bahamas, Brooklyn

☆ Ex-FTX executive Salame agrees to plead guilty to US criminal charges, lawyer says
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Salame appeared before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan less than one month before Bankman-Fried's scheduled Oct. 3 trial on fraud and conspiracy charges stemming from now-bankrupt FTX's November 2022 collapse. Salame said that he had agreed to forfeit more than $1.5 billion in connection with the plea deal. Salame had worked for Ernst & Young and Circle Internet Financial before joining FTX Digital Markets. Salame was not charged at the time, and his lawyer told prosecutors he would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination if called to testify. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise and Mark PorterOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ryan Salame, Sam Bankman, Salame, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Kaplan, Fried, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Singh, Luc Cohen, Emelia Sithole, Mark Porter Organizations: FTX's, U.S, District, Prosecutors, Alameda Research, Former Alameda, Bankman, Ernst & Young, Circle, FTX Digital, Republican, Democratic, Securities Commission, FTX, New York Times, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, Bahamas, Caribbean, Alameda, New York

Salame also pleaded guilty to conspiring to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. But there was no indication that he was cooperating with the prosecution or would testify against Bankman-Fried at trial. Former Alameda Chief Executive Officer Caroline Ellison, former FTX technology chief Gary Wang and former FTX engineering chief Nishad Singh previously pleaded guilty and are expected to testify against Bankman-Fried. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty. His lawyer told prosecutors that if called to testify Salame would invoke his right under the U.S. Constitution's Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.

Persons: Ryan Salame, Sam Bankman, Fried, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Kaplan, Salame, Jason Linder, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, Singh, Luc Cohen, Will Dunham, Emelia, Mark Porter Organizations: FTX's, U.S, District, Bankman, Alameda, Porsche, Alameda Research, Prosecutors, Ernst & Young, Circle, FTX Digital, Republican, Democratic, Constitution's, Securities Commission, FTX, New York Times, Thomson Locations: Manhattan, Massachusetts, Salame, Bahamas, Caribbean, Alameda, New York

FTX logo displayed on a phone screen is seen through the broken glass in this illustration photo taken in Krakow, Poland on November 14, 2022. Former FTX executive Ryan Salame pleaded guilty Thursday to federal campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes, and agreed to forfeit more than $1.5 billion. Salame, who was released on a $1 million bond, faces a maximum possible sentence of 10 years in prison. His sentencing was scheduled for March 6. In addition to the monetary forfeiture, which will be paid to the U.S. government, Salame will pay $5 million to debtors of FTX.

Persons: Ryan Salame, Salame Organizations: . Locations: Krakow, Poland, FTX

☆ Ryan Salame, an ex-FTX executive, is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-07 | by ( Kara Scannell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

New York CNN —Ryan Salame, a former top executive of FTX, the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency trading platform, is expected to plead guilty to criminal charges in a New York courtroom on Thursday afternoon, a person familiar with the matter has told CNN. The plea comes less than one month before Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder of the digital currency exchange, is set to go on trial. Salame, served as the chief executive of FTX and was a top lieutenant of Bankman-Fried, who is set to go to trial on October 2 facing numerous wire fraud and conspiracy charges. Prosecutors have said Salame played a role in the alleged scheme involving political donations. They want to show the jury a private message Salame sent to a family member in November 2021, explaining that he was a straw donor that Bankman-Fried used to make political donations.

Persons: New York CNN — Ryan Salame, Sam Bankman, Fried, Salame’s, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, FTX, Nishad Singh, Salame Organizations: New, New York CNN, FTX, CNN, Prosecutors, Bankman, Republican, Democrat Locations: New York, Bankman, Alameda

NEW YORK (AP) — Another top executive at the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange is scheduled to appear in court in New York Thursday afternoon to face undisclosed criminal charges. Ryan Salame, the former co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, was set to appear before a judge at 3 p.m. at the U.S. district court in Manhattan. Federal prosecutors didn't immediately disclose what charges Salame is facing or reveal details about the case. Before FTX collapsed and declared bankruptcy in November, Bankman-Fried had been one of the best-known U.S. crypto entrepreneurs. Bankman-Fried and people associated with his companies, including Salame, were also heavy givers to political campaigns.

Persons: Ryan Salame, didn't, Jason Linder, FTX, Sam Bankman, Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, Fried, Larry David, Salame Organizations: FTX, Alameda Research Locations: New York, U.S, Manhattan, Bahamas, Alameda, Bankman

☆ Sam Bankman-Fried donated millions to 'weed out anti-crypto' politicians, new evidence says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-15 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Prosecutors say Sam Bankman-Fried donated $100 million to politicians using FTX funds. Messages from Ryan Salame quoted in a court filing say SBF wanted "to weed out anti-crypto" politicians. Although prosecutors have put that number as high as $100 million because they say Bankman-Fried funneled millions more through FTX executives. Prosecutors' evidence includes messages from Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX's Bahamian affiliate company, who prosecutors say is "a co-conspirator in the defendant's illegal campaign finance scheme." Salame's message added it was likely Bankman-Fried would "route money through me to weed out that republican side," according to the filing.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Fried, Ryan Salame, SBF, George Soros, Mike Bloomberg, hasn't, Salame Organizations: Morning, Washington D.C, Prosecutors, Republicans, FTX's Bahamian, Republican Locations: Washington, The Bahamas

☆ Bankman-Fried used $100 mln in stolen FTX funds for political donations, US says
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-14 | by ( Luc Cohen | Thomson Reuters | Reports On The New York Federal Courts. Previously Worked As A Correspondent In Venezuela | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

Bankman-Fried has previously pleaded not guilty to stealing billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to plug losses at Alameda Research, his crypto-focused hedge fund. Kaplan jailed him last Friday ahead of his Oct. 2 trial, after finding probable cause that Bankman-Fried tampered with witnesses. The November 2022 collapse of FTX after a flurry of customer withdrawals destroyed his wealth and stained his reputation. Bankman-Fried's indictment does not name the two people prosecutors say he used for "straw donors" to donate money at his direction. He donated $9.7 million to Democratic candidates and causes, and said in court he knew the money came from FTX customers.

Persons: Sam Bankman, Eduardo Munoz, Fried, FTX, District Judge Lewis Kaplan, Mark Botnick, Kaplan, Palo, Nishad Singh, Ryan Salame, Singh, Luc Cohen, Chris Reese, David Gregorio, Jonathan Oatis Organizations: REUTERS, Republicans, U.S, District, Alameda Research, Democratic, Federal, Commission, Republican, Bloomberg, Thomson Locations: New York, U.S, Manhattan, Bahamas, Palo Alto , California, San Jose , California

CNN —Federal prosecutors in Manhattan filed another indictment against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried Monday, dropping another count against him. Prosecutors had previously indicated their plans to drop the one count of conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions against Bankman-Fried last month in a letter to the court. Prosecutors maintain that Bankman-Fried conducted an illegal campaign finance scheme in connection to the charges that are moving forward to trial. “The defendant’s use of customer deposits to conduct a political influence campaign was part of the wire fraud scheme charged in the original indictment. Bankman-Fried’s attorneys said they reserve the right to challenge evidence prosecutors may seek to use.

Persons: FTX, Sam Bankman, Prosecutors, Fried, docketed, Sam, arraign, ledgers, Caroline Ellison, “, Ellison, Ryan Salame, Salame, ”, Bankman Organizations: CNN, Federal, Bankman, United, Government, Prosecutors, Alameda Research, ” Prosecutors, Alameda Locations: Manhattan, Bahamas, United States, New York, Alameda, FTX

☆ U.S. prosecutors probe ex-FTX executive Salame for campaign finance violations, Wall Street Journal reports
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Shearman Real Estate Finance Partner Is Latest Exit As Merger Looms | Sara Merken | July | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

NEW YORK, July 11 (Reuters) - Former FTX cryptocurrency exchange executive Ryan Salame is under investigation by federal prosecutors for possible violations of campaign finance law, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. Prosecutors are looking at money Salame gave his girlfriend, Michelle Bond, who ran unsuccessfully last year for the Republican nomination for a congressional seat in New York, as well as loans Bond made to her campaign, the Journal reported. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's office in Manhattan declined to comment. Neither Salame nor Bond has been accused of wrongdoing. Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Chizu NomiyamaOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Persons: Ryan Salame, Salame, Michelle Bond, Bond, Sam Bankman, Luc Cohen, Chizu Organizations: YORK, Wall Street, Prosecutors, Republican, U.S, Thomson Locations: New York, Manhattan

☆ FBI searches the $4 million home of former FTX exec Ryan Salame, report says
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-28 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ryan Salame was the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, FTX's Bahamian subsidiary. The FBI searched the home of the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Salame, on Thursday morning, The New York Times reported. FTX Digital Markets was the Bahamian subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried's fallen crypto exchange, FTX. Prosecutors allege Bankman-Fried funneled $100 million in political donations through FTX executives, which allowed him to exceed contribution limits. The FBI and a lawyer for Salame did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment, sent outside US working hours.

☆ F.B.I. Searches Home of Top FTX Executive
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-27 | by ( Matthew Goldstein | David Yaffe-Bellany | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

carried out a search on Thursday morning at the Potomac, Md., home of Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive who was a major campaign contributor to Republican political candidates, two people with knowledge of the matter said. Mr. Salame, who ran FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, was part of the close circle of advisers around Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency exchange’s founder, before the firm filed for bankruptcy in November. Federal prosecutors have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a vast fraud and illegal campaign finance scheme at FTX. Mr. Salame has been under particular scrutiny over the $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year’s midterm elections. In court filings, federal authorities have claimed that most of the $90 million contributed to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, had been misappropriated from customers of the exchange.

☆ Caroline Ellison made $6 million at Alameda – a fraction of Sam Bankman-Fried's $2.2 billion's haul
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-19 | by ( Pete Syme | Sam Tabahriti | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Caroline Ellison received $6 million by Alameda, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Sam Bankman-Fried transferred himself $2.2 billion, while $587 million went to Nishad Singh. Alameda Research has been accused of using customer deposits from Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange FTX for daily operations, including risky investments. FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on November 11 after it imploded, wiping out billions in customer deposits. Court documents filed Wednesday show he transferred $2.5 million from Alameda to American Yacht Group in March 2022, with the cited reason "for the benefit of John Samuel Trabucco."

☆ Former director of engineering at FTX Nishad Singh pleads guilty to criminal charges
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-28 | by ( Kara Scannell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

New York CNN —A former top executive of failed cryptocurrency trading platform FTX pleaded guilty and is cooperating with federal prosecutors investigating the alleged billion-dollar fraud at the now collapsed exchange. Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, pleaded guilty to six conspiracy charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to violate federal campaign finances laws. Singh is the third top executive and close confidante of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors. Gary Wang, co-founder of FTX, and Caroline Ellison, the former head of FTX’s sister hedge fund Alameda Research, both pleaded guilty last year and are cooperating against Bankman-Fried. New York state election records show Singh made a $107,000 donation to the committee on October 28, 2022.

Efforts to recoup them will highlight major flaws in political donations. On Thursday, former Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried was hit with additional criminal charges, including an accusation that he conspired with two former FTX executives to make more than 300 illegal political donations. Ray is hoping to add politicians’ returned donations to his coffers, and past blowups suggest he will have some luck. Madoff and Stanford’s political contributions, totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars each, pale in comparison to the $84 million-plus FTX executives gave campaigns. No other FTX executives, including Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh, have been charged with campaign finance violations at this time.

☆ SBF funneled $100 million in political donations for 'woke shit' and to Republicans through 2 executives to appear bipartisan, prosecutors say in new indictment
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-23 | by ( Jacob Shamsian | Sindhu Sundar | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Sam Bankman-Fried put political donations through two FTX execs to appear bipartisan, prosecutors say. An internal Alameda spreadsheet noted over $100 million in political contributions, according to the filing. A CNBC analysis of his political contributions beginning in 2020 found he donated more than $13 million to causes affiliated with the Democratic party. CC-1, prosecutors wrote, ultimately became on-paper "one of the largest Democratic donors in the 2022 midterm elections and helped further Bankman-Fried's political agenda." Bankman-Fried preferred to "keep contributions to Republicans 'dark'," but was the real engine behind CC-2's donations to the GOP, prosecutors wrote.

☆ FTX has chased politicians like Nancy Pelosi to return donations given before the crypto giant's collapse. They now have a deadline of February 28 to pay.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-06 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

In total, FTX employees donated $90 million to politicians, per The New York Times, and the debtors are trying to claim that back to reimburse customers. After Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX's Bahamas company, Ryan Salame, donated $23 million – making him the 15th top donor in the US, per OpenSecrets. The lawyers handling FTX's bankruptcy first requested the donations be returned in December. But in January, CoinDesk reported that just five of the 196 politicians who received money from FTX said they had successfully returned it. CoinDesk reports that Vance donated the money to a non-profit, but FTX has warned that this "does not prevent the FTX debtors from seeking recovery."

Sam Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty in New York federal court Tuesday to eight charges related to the collapse of his former crypto exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research. The onetime crypto billionaire was indicted on charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud and securities fraud, individual charges of securities fraud and wire fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy to avoid campaign finance regulations. Federal prosecutors also announced the launch of a new task force to recover victim assets as part of an ongoing investigation into Bankman-Fried and the collapse of FTX. Federal prosecutors built the indictment against Bankman-Fried with unusual speed, packaging together the criminal charges against the 30-year-old in a matter of weeks. The federal charges came alongside complaints from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Dec 22 (Reuters) - FTX founder and former Chief Executive Sam Bankman-Fried, who faces U.S. fraud charges over the collapse of FTX, ran his crypto empire with a number of associates. GARY WANGGary Wang co-founded FTX and Alameda Research with Bankman-Fried, and served as FTX's chief technology officer. He and Bankman-Fried met at a math camp in high school and became college roommates, Bankman-Fried wrote in a now-unavailable FTX blog. Wang worked as a software engineer at Google before co-founding FTX and Alameda, according to an archived webpage for the FTX Future Fund, the company's charitable effort. NISHAD SINGHNishad Singh was a best friend of Bankman-Fried's brother in high school, Bankman-Fried wrote in the deleted blog post.

☆ An FTX exec bought $6 million of real estate and restaurants in a small Massachusetts town. The crypto giant's collapse has local officials worried about its future.
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Pete Syme | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Ryan Salame, a co-CEO at FTX, bought $6 million of restaurants and real estate in Lenox, Massachusetts. A local newspaper reported last year that Salame owned almost half the town's restaurants. As first reported by local news outlet The Berkshire Eagle, Ryan Salame, who was co-CEO at FTX Digital Markets, invested $6 million in restaurants and real estate in Lenox. Bankman-Fried has been accused of funneling customer funds into his trading firm, Alameda, and using some customer money to buy luxury real estate and fund political donations. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Salame vomited upon hearing about FTX's impending collapse.

☆ Who is Ryan Salame, the FTX exec, Republican mega-donor, and New England restaurateur who blew the whistle on FTX?
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-20 | by ( Morgan Chittum | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Ryan Salame, FTX Digital Market's Co-CEO, tipped off regulators about what was going on at the exchange. Days before disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, Co-CEO Salame tipped off regulators on alleged malfeasance at the once-$32 billion crypto empire. Bankman-Fried notoriously told a Vox reporter "fuck regulators....they make everything worse" shortly after FTX filed for bankruptcy protection last month. "I always thought he was a great leader," Childs, who hasn't seen Salame since highschool, told The Berkshire Eagle. He purchased six pieces of real estate in the area to the tune of $6 million, according to The Berkshire Eagle.

☆ How FTX founder SBF and friends quietly donated to political groups and relatives
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-19 | by ( Brian Schwartz | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried is led by officers of the Royal Bahamas Police force following his arrest. The disgraced CEO donated to his brother Gabe Bankman-Fried's nonprofit organization, Guarding Against Pandemics. Alameda Research donated more than $12 million to Gabe Bankman-Fried's nonprofit since late last year, according to California state campaign finance records. California state campaign finance records show Alameda donated $5 million to Guarding Against Pandemics last year and $7.1 million this year. Guarding Against Pandemics also paid political communications and media company GMMB just over $690,000 last year for advertising and production, its tax form says.

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