Former top FTX executive Ryan Salame is seeking to void his guilty plea in a criminal case involving campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes, claiming prosecutors reneged on their agreement not to investigate his fiancée.
On Aug. 21, Salame filed a petition for a “writ of coram nobis” (legal order allowing a court to correct its original judgment) seeking post-conviction relief related to his plea deal.
The former FTX executive pleaded guilty to two felony charges in September 2023.
He alleges that during plea negotiations, the government implied it would not continue investigating his partner, Michelle Bond, for campaign finance violations if Salame pleaded guilty.
Salame claims he pleaded guilty based on this assurance, but the government has since resumed investigating Bond.
He argues that the government should be held to its commitment, either by dismissing any charges against his partner or allowing him to withdraw his guilty plea.
The former crypto executive also argued that the prosecutor’s tactics of using a third party as leverage to induce his plea was “improper” and “coercive,” and his plea should be invalidated on those grounds. The filing read:
“If the Government is not held to its assurances, the Court should nonetheless grant post-conviction relief because the assurances made during the plea negotiations were unlawfully coercive, and the entire plea agreement and conviction must be vacated.”
Salame seeks either dismissal of any charges against Bond, vacating of his own conviction, or, at minimum, a hearing or discovery on these issues.
Salame alleges the plea negotiations were “unlawfully coercive. Source: Courtlistener
In a post on X on Aug. 22, Salame said I’ve just made a court filing that “I’m pretty nervous about because I know it means the most powerful body in the world is going to come at me and my loved ones again.”
In a subsequent tweet, he added:
“Government replied - my submission is SELF-SERVING?? Literally, the opposite, lock me up, just abide by the promise you know you know you made if I agreed.”
Source: Ryan Salame
Related: Failed House candidate and partner of ex-FTX exec starts crypto think tank
Federal prosecutors investigated ex-congressional candidate Michelle Bond in 2023 regarding contributions to her 2022 campaign for the Republican primary in New York’s first congressional district.
The investigators scrutinized the funds Salame gave to Bond and the loans she provided for her campaign, according to the WSJ.
The former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison in May over conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Federal Election Commission and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business
He is due to begin serving the sentence on Oct. 13 and was also ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.
Magazine: ‘Algo choice’ could fix toxic social media — but ad dollars mean it won’t