Court documents: Former FTX executive Ryan Salame claims the U.S. government went back on its plea agreement

Lawyers for Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive sentenced to 7.5 years in prison, are asking the court to enforce a plea agreement between Salame and the U.S. government, according to a recent court filing. Salame's agreement with the government requires the government to stop its investigation of his partner Michelle Bond (Bond is a Republican candidate for Congress and now the CEO of a fintech think tank) or ask the U.S. government to vacate his conviction. Manhattan federal prosecutors are investigating Bond on charges of campaign finance violations related to donations from Salame and others to her 2022 congressional campaign. Salame pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations in September 2023, CoinDesk reported at the time. In May, Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison for campaign finance violations and operating an unlicensed money transmission business. Now, Salame's lawyers argue that his guilty plea was made because prosecutors promised to protect Bond, the mother of his child, from further legal scrutiny. Salame’s lawyers argued in the filing that “despite Salame’s cooperation, the government has not fulfilled its implied promise not to bring campaign finance charges against Bond.” The filing alleges that federal prosecutors “used plea bargaining to threaten Michelle Bond, Salame’s common-law partner and the mother of his child,” and that the government “refused to investigate Bond if Salame pleaded guilty.” Salame’s lawyers are now asking the court to either enforce the government’s initial promise to drop the investigation into Bond or to vacate Salame’s conviction altogether. “Salame has the right to require the government to honor its promise by withdrawing its petition or obtaining an order directing specific performance,” the filing states. (CoinDesk)