Former FTX executive Ryan Salame will not testify under oath about his role in an alleged illegal campaign donation scheme at the cryptocurrency empire, according to prosecutors.
(Bloomberg) — Former FTX executive Ryan Salame will not testify under oath about his role in an alleged illegal campaign donation scheme at the cryptocurrency empire, according to prosecutors.
The former co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, who donated more than $24 million to Republican campaigns, allegedly acted as a straw donor for FTX’s co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried in a bid to shape crypto policy in Washington. He outlined his actions in private messages sent to a family member, federal prosecutors said in a letter filed in federal court in Manhattan on Monday.
“Salame’s attorney has represented that if subpoenaed, Salame would invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,” according to the document, which described him as “unavailable as a witness.”
Salame was a close associate of Bankman-Fried, who is set for trial in October on charges that he allegedly orchestrated a yearslong fraud at FTX that cost customers and investors billions of dollars.
Read More: Ex-FTX Executive Salame Talking to Prosecutors About Plea Deal
While three other former top executives — Gary Wang, Caroline Ellison and Nishad Singh – have pleaded guilty and agreed to give evidence for the government, Salame has not. His attorney didn’t immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Bloomberg reported this month that Salame was in talks with federal prosecutors to plead guilty to criminal charges, including campaign-finance law violations. Entering a plea doesn’t mean he will agree to testify for the government.
Federal prosecutors want to use in evidence messages Salame sent about an alleged agreement with Bankman-Fried to make donations on the FTX co-founder’s behalf. Prosecutors claim Bankman-Fried made $100 million in political donations, aimed at shaping crypto regulation in the US and laundering the proceeds of his fraud. Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty.
According to the government’s filing, Salame explained in a message in November 2021 that Bankman-Fried “wante[ed] to donate to both democratic and republican candidates in the US.” He also wrote that bipartisan donations would “weed out anti crypto dems for pro crypto dems and anti crypto repubs for pro crypto repubs.”
It was likely Bankman-Fried would “route money through me to weed out that republican side,” Salame wrote according to prosecutors.
In March, Federal Bureau of Investigation agents seized Salame’s and his girlfriend’s phones from the home they shared in Potomac, Maryland.
Prosecutors also outlined other evidence that planned to present at trial, including notes and lists Ellison made during meetings about Alameda Research’s liabilities to FTX. One such list — labeled “Things Sam is Freaking out About” — included notes about the hedge fund’s trading and bad press about the relationship between FTX and Alameda.
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