Former FTX Executive Ryan Salame Sentenced To 7.5 Years In Prison (apnews.com) 14
Former FTX executive Ryan Salame has been sentenced to more than seven years in prison, "the first of the lieutenants of failed cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried to receive jail time for their roles in the 2022 collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange," reports the Associated Press. From the report: 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 illegally making unlawful U.S. campaign contributions and to operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. The sentence of 7 1/2 years in prison, plus three years of supervised release, was more than the five to seven years prosecutors had asked Judge Lewis A. Kaplan to impose on Salame in their pre-sentencing memo.
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.
The judge also chastised Salame for pulling $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."
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.
The judge also chastised Salame for pulling $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."
2008 (Score:2, Offtopic)
How much time did the bankers behind the 2008 great financial collapse get again?
Re: (Score:3)
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The difference here is all the federal regulators where (and still are) former Goldman Sachs elite who bailed their buddies out.
Re:2008 (Score:4, Informative)
How much time did the bankers behind the 2008 great financial collapse get again?
Can you name a specific individual you think should've gone to prison and cite the law they violated?
The problem in 2008 was not people getting away with breaking the law, but that what they did was legal.
In fact, it was not only legal but subsidized by the taxpayer. Blame the politicians for that, not the bankers.
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the wrong doing was so far widespread
"Wrong doing" is not the same as "law breaking".
the price of prosecuting would be so large that it would harm the recovery.
There was plenty of pressure to hold people accountable. The problem is that nobody (including you) can identify individuals and laws that were broken. What they did may have been "wrong" in hindsight, but it was legal and encouraged with subsidies.
FTX's problems were that there were fewer of them
No, FTX's problem was that they actually broke the law.
Heh (Score:2, Flamebait)
Queue the (Score:3)
Hide the Salame jokes in 3â¦2â¦.1