important point
- The FBI raided the home of former FTX executive Ryan Salame yesterday.
- Salameh made $24 million in campaign contributions to US politicians during the midterm elections.
- Sam Bankman-Fried has already been charged with violating campaign finance laws.
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Former Co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Salame, is being investigated for his role in Sam Bankman-Fried’s empire. He is currently under scrutiny for his $24 million political contribution in the 2022 midterm elections.
campaign finance violations
The fallout of FTX continues.
According to the New York Times, the Federal Bureau of Investigation attacked Former FTX executive Ryan Salame’s $4 million Washington DC home Thursday morning.
Salame joined FTX sister company Alameda Research in November 2019 as Head of OTC Trading. He then became co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamas entity of FTX, shortly after the company moved from Hong Kong to the Bahamas in 2021. As one of Sam Bankman-Fried’s most trusted advisors, FTX’s bankruptcy team claims Salame got at least $87 million in bonuses and loans from Alameda.
Salameh is under scrutiny for donating more than $24 million in campaign funds to US politicians during the 2022 midterm elections. The Department of Justice said FTX executives (notably his Salame, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and former FTX head of engineering Nishad Singh) were accused of using funds that originally belonged to FTX customers. He claims to have donated over $90 million. While Bankman-Fried has publicly donated his $46.5 million to Democratic-affiliated political groups over the past two years, Salame has donated to Republican candidates on behalf of Bankman-Fried.
Prosecutors have not yet filed charges against Salameh. Bankman-Fried himself faces 13 criminal charges against him, including fraud, collusion, campaign finance violations, and anti-bribery policy violations. He is currently pleading not guilty to all counts. Other members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, including Singh, his FTX co-founder Gary Wang, and former Alameda Research’s Caroline Ellison, have pleaded guilty to various fraud and money laundering charges. Reportedly cooperating with US authorities.
Disclosure: At the time of writing, the author of this work owned BTC, ETH, and several other crypto assets.