Lawyers for FTX senior executive Ryan Salame are asking the court to overturn the sentence because of the failure to fulfill the terms of the plea bargain

What’s new? US prosecutors used the plea bargain negotiations of Ryan Salame, the former chief executive of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, to threaten his common-law wife Michelle Bond, with whom they share a child, defense lawyers said. Law enforcement officials also violated the plea agreement by filing charges against her for campaign finance violations, the lawyers said.

The lawyers’ appeal

What else is known? Salame previously headed FTX’s Bahamas division. Notably, he reported fraud at the exchange to the local regulator two days before it collapsed in November 2022. Unlike other top executives, including co-founders Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang, tech director Nishad Singh and Alameda Research hedge fund head Caroline Allison, Salame was not accused of involvement in the multi-billion dollar fraud.

He was charged with violating campaign finance laws and operating an unlicensed money transmission service. Thus, he promoted the interests of FTX and Alameda by funding both Democrats and Republicans, which allowed the fraudulent business to develop.

In May of this year, Salame received 7,5 years in prison, which exceeded the sentence requested by prosecutors, even though he pleaded guilty.

According to a new appeal by defense lawyers, prosecutors promised Salame that they would drop the investigation into his partner Michelle Bond if he pleaded guilty. Although he accepted those terms, authorities did not keep their word and reopened the investigation against her and later filed charges of campaign finance irregularities.

As such, defense lawyers have asked a New York court to dismiss any charges against Bond, or to vacate the conviction against Salame himself for failing to honor the terms of the deal with prosecutors.

In June, Bond launched Digital Future, a think tank focused on shaping legislation to regulate digital assets and AI technologies with the goal of proposing these initiatives to the government. Bond is also CEO of Capitol Advisory, a consulting firm that supports fintech companies on regulatory issues.

In March, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison. The other senior executives testified against him and pleaded guilty in hopes of lighter sentences. They will go on trial at a later date.