Ryan Salame, a former top executive at the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who received a 7.5 years in prison sentencing could be coming out of prison a whole year early, according to Business Insider report.

Salame began his sentence in October this year, but now, the Federal Bureau of Prisons records that he is now set to be released on March 1, 2031, which is a year earlier than his original release date of around April 2032.

After pleading guilty to his criminal charges back in May 2023, Salame began his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland.

Salame, together with Bankman-Fried and Caroline Ellison, were three of the main orchestrators of the entire fraud scheme. Under normal circumstances, inmates will be granted early release based on good behaviour.

But the specific reasons behind his early release remain unknown, and all we can do is just speculate.

Ryan Salame's most serious crime is not related to FTX

In 2019, Salame first met and connected with Bankman-Fried at a blockchain conference. In 2019, Ryan Salame became part of the FTX family after joining Alameda Research as a employee.

Alameda Research was FTX's hedge fund, using its own technology and trading platform to trade thousands of digital assets, including major coins, non-fungible tokens, and altcoins. Salame also became the CEO of FTX's Bahamas subsidiary.

During his hearing, prosecutor found Salame guilty of helping FTX accept customer deposits through a U.S bank account without having the required license. Salame's legal team, however, tried to argue that he had absolutely no idea that FTX was misusing consumer funds.

In their sentencing memorandum, Salame's attorney wrote

"Ryan, who was not part of Sam Bankman-Fried innermost circle, was unaware of the crimes at the centre of this case."

They claimed he was duped into believing that businesses within the group were "legitimate, solvent, and wildly profitable."

Even if this was true, Salame was also charged with a greater crime, which was campaign finance fraud-in other words, making lavish donations to politicians.

Not only had he pledged tens of millions of dollars to lawmakers in an attempt to further the interests of FTX, data from the Federal Election Commission also revealed that he was also the biggest donor to the Repubican candidates during the 2022 midterm elections.

And the crux of the issue was that he did all these with customer funds without their consent or knowledge.

Twist of events during Salame's hearing

Salame's hearing experienced a surprising twist of events, when he filed a petition to void his guilty plea on August, claiming that federal prosecutors backout on their promises within the original plea agreement.

According to Salame's accounts, federal authorities promised Salame that they would stop investigating his partner, Michelle Bond, for campaign finance violations if he pleaded guilty.

Salame said that despite the implied assurances from federal prosecutors, US authorities resumed investigating Bond.

After his failed attempt to void the guilty plea and delay the start of his sentencing, he submitted to prison custody on Oct 11 at the FCI Cumberland correctional facility, a medium-security prison.