FTX exec Ryan Salame sentenced to 90 months in prison

• Salame’s 90-month sentence highlights FTX’s legal challenges amid bankruptcy proceedings.
• The crypto market shows resilience despite FTX’s legal turmoil.

Amidst FTX’s ongoing bankruptcy proceedings and plans to repay its creditors, a significant new development has emerged.

Ryan Salame, a former high-ranking executive under FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, has been sentenced to 90 months (seven and a half years) in prison.

This will be followed by three years of supervised release. Salame has also been ordered to pay over $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.

The sentencing of FTX executive 

The sentencing was announced on the 28th of May by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Providing further insights, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a press release from the U.S. Attorney’s office stated, 

Source: Justice.gov

What’s important to note here is that the sentence surpasses the five to seven years recommended by prosecutors and is much harsher than the 18 months requested by Salame’s defense team.  

Other instances 

It’s worth noting that judges don’t typically hand out longer sentences; in fact, they often opt for lighter ones.

For instance, in recent cases involving cryptocurrency executives Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, judges imposed shorter sentences than what prosecutors wanted.

Despite seeking up to 50 years and 36 months, respectively, SBF and CZ received 25 years and four months each.

Without directly mentioning his sentencing, Salame took to X (formerly Twitter) after November 2022 and said,

Source: Ryan Salame/X

Hinting at his intention not to flee the States, he further added,

Source: Ryan Salame/X

Community reaction 

Further shedding light on the serious allegations of fraud and mismanagement within FTX and its connections to Tether, an X user, Bitfinexed said, 

Source: Bitfinexed/X

Salame is the first of SBF’s executive team to be sentenced since the exchange filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. 

His case is unique because it includes violations of campaign finance laws during an election year. This political dimension may have influenced Judge Kaplan’s decision to impose additional prison time.

Crypto market unaffected 

While Salame’s sentencing unfolded, the crypto market appeared not only unaffected but rather pleased, with all coins showing green candlesticks on their daily charts.

According to CoinMarketCap, the global crypto market cap stands at $2.58 trillion, marking a 1.34% increase over the past day.