Judge questions if ex-FTX exec perjured himself in guilty plea

Former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame appeared in a New York courtroom in person as part of a hearing for a federal judge to consider a motion to vacate his guilty plea related to the cryptocurrency exchange’s downfall.

According to reporting from Inner City Press on Sept. 12, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York questioned whether Salame had committed perjury as part of his guilty plea for making unlawful political contributions, defrauding the Federal Election Commission and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Salame reportedly suggested that he would be willing to testify that he believed he had an agreement with prosecutors in hearings or the criminal trial of his partner, Michelle Bond. 

Judge Kaplan said he would take the information at the hearing “under advisement” and return with a ruling. Between FTX’s collapse in 2022 and 2024, Salame pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 90 months in prison, petitioned to vacate his plea, and said he would withdraw the motion to vacate.

In his guilty plea filed in federal court in September 2023, the former FTX executive testified that there were no other agreements with prosecutors. However, as US authorities continued investigating Bond for campaign finance law violations, he filed a motion to vacate the plea.

Campaign finance charges

On Aug. 22, prosecutors unsealed an indictment against Bond, alleging that she and Salame illegally funded her campaign for the US House of Representatives in 2022. Salame, who shares a child with Bond, joined her in person at the initial hearing in New York, where she pleaded not guilty.

Salame withdrew the motion to vacate his plea deal on Aug. 29, claiming that he would refer the matter to Bond’s criminal case. However, Judge Kaplan ordered the former FTX executive to appear for a Sept. 12 hearing to address the motion.

As one of five defendants included in the indictment of former FTX and Alameda Research executives, including Sam Bankman-Fried, Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, Salame was the only one not to testify at Bankman-Fried’s 2023 trial. In May, Judge Kaplan sentenced him to 90 months in prison.

Though initially ordered to report to prison on Aug. 29, Salame requested a delay for medical complications following a dog bite. Judge Kaplan pushed the reporting date to Oct. 13, but in the Sept. 12 hearing, he reportedly moved it up to Oct. 11.

Bond and Salame were free on $1 million bail each at the time of publication and had been asked to surrender their travel documents. Salame has been active on the social media platform X since his sentencing in May, making claims about other individuals involved in FTX’s downfall and his case.