Why was Ryan Salameh sentenced to a longer sentence than prosecutors recommended?
Months after pleading guilty to prosecutors, Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, learned he will likely spend more than seven years in federal prison after pleading guilty to two felony charges.
On May 28, Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York considered the sentencing recommendations of Salameh’s legal team and prosecutors and sentenced the former FTX executive to 90 months in prison. The judge’s decision reflected more prison time than prosecutors had recommended (up to seven years) and significantly longer than Salameh’s lawyers had requested (18 months).
Addressing .” According to court documents dated May 14, Salameh gave birth to a child with her partner, Michelle Bond, in November 2023.
“Judge Kaplan’s 90-month sentence was higher than what federal prosecutors had sought, emphasizing that the judge viewed FTX’s fraudulent conduct, including a multi-million dollar campaign finance fraud scheme in which Salame was directly involved, very serious crimes. do.” Mark Bini, Reed Smith’s attorney and former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of New York, told Cointelegraph. “Salame’s attorneys argued that the documents he submitted to the government showed his cooperation and repentance, but it is clear that Judge Kaplan did not see it that way.”
In the past two months, two high-profile former cryptocurrency executives have been sentenced to prison. But the judge overseeing the criminal case of Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried (who in this case is also Judge Kaplan) and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao sentenced the former CEOs to shorter prison terms than authorities had requested. Prosecutors recommended a maximum of 50 years for SBF and 36 months for CZ, but the judge sentenced them to 25 years and 4 months, respectively.
Related: Former Alameda Institute co-CEO calls for ‘fair’ sentencing for Ryan Salameh
Other people linked to FTX and Alameda Research could also be sentenced sometime this year. Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, former FTX Engineering Director Nishad Singh and FTX co-founder Gary Wang (all of whom testified in the SBF criminal trial) have pleaded guilty and have been cooperating with prosecutors. At the time of publication, it was unclear whether they would face jail time.
Unlike other criminal cases faced by FTX and Alameda executives, Salame’s case was the only one involving violations of campaign finance laws in an election year. Political motivations may have influenced Judge Kaplan’s decision to impose additional prison sentences. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams even cited Salameh’s “illegal political influence exercise” that “undermined public trust in American elections.”
Sunil Kavuri, a British national who testified at Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial, suggested at Before SBF was sentenced, prosecutors filed hundreds of affidavits from people who were financially and personally affected by the cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse.
Bankman-Fried is reportedly currently being held at a federal facility in Oklahoma pending transfer to a California prison. Zhao, who was sentenced April 30, has not yet reported to facilities in Oregon or Washington.
magazine: ‘Less flashy’ Mashinsky spends less time in jail than SBF: Inner City Press, X Hall of Flame
