FBI. Best FTX Frames Home

Ryan Salame, former top FTX executive and prolific Republican donor, faces mounting legal pressure over his role in Sam Bankman's business empire- Fried.
The F.B.I. conducted a search Thursday morning in the Potomac, Md., home of Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive who was a major campaign contributor to Republican political candidates, two people with knowledge of the matter said. /p>
Mr. Salame, who ran the Bahamian subsidiary of FTX, was part of the inner circle of advisers around Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency exchange's founder, before the company filed for bankruptcy in November.
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Federal prosecutors have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a vast fraud and illegal campaign finance scheme at FTX. He pledged to fight the charges. Three of his former top executives have pleaded guilty as part of the investigation and agreed to cooperate against their former boss.
Mr. Salame has come under particular scrutiny over the $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year's midterm elections. In court filings, federal authorities claimed that most of the $90 million paid to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, was diverted from the exchange's customers.
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Search of Mr. Salame's $4 million home indicates feds have not completed investigation into FTX collapse as they prepare for the trial of Mr. Bankman-Fried scheduled for October. They examine a range of employees and advisers in the former crypto mogul's orbit, including Mr. Bankman-Fried's younger brother.
Jason Linder, attorney for Mr. Salame, did not respond to a request for comment.
An F.B.I. the spokeswoman declined to comment.
It is unclear what authorities were looking for during the search, which took place around 7 a.m., according to a person who sent a photo of the F.B.I. officers gathered outside the home of The New York Times.
A native of Sandisfield, Mass., a town in the Berkshires, Mr. Salame worked for EY, the accounting firm global and advisory firm better known as Ernst & Young, before working for Mr. Bankman-Fried at Alameda Research, a Hong Kong-based crypto hedge fund.
He soon became one of Mr. Bankman-Fried's most loyal and trusted lieutenants. After FTX moved to the Bahamas in 2021, Mr. Salame served as an intermediary between the company and the local government, and he was appointed co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the exchange's Bahamian business entity.
Mr. Salame became extremely wealthy as the crypto market exploded and FTX reached a valuation of $32 billion. FTX bankruptcy lawyers and advisers said in March that Mr. Salame received $87 million in bonuses and loans from Alameda. He was one of half a dozen senior executives who received a total of $3.2 billion in payouts.
Mr. Salame split his time between Washington and the Bahamas, and he began dating Michelle Bond, who ran a crypto lobbying group and campaigned unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican from Long Island. At home in the Berkshires, Mr Salame

Technology Apr 28, 2023 0 30 Add to Reading List

Ryan Salame, former top FTX executive and prolific Republican donor, faces mounting legal pressure over his role in Sam Bankman's business empire- Fried.

The F.B.I. conducted a search Thursday morning in the Potomac, Md., home of Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive who was a major campaign contributor to Republican political candidates, two people with knowledge of the matter said. /p>

Mr. Salame, who ran the Bahamian subsidiary of FTX, was part of the inner circle of advisers around Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency exchange's founder, before the company filed for bankruptcy in November.

Federal prosecutors have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried with orchestrating a vast fraud and illegal campaign finance scheme at FTX. He pledged to fight the charges. Three of his former top executives have pleaded guilty as part of the investigation and agreed to cooperate against their former boss.

Mr. Salame has come under particular scrutiny over the $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year's midterm elections. In court filings, federal authorities claimed that most of the $90 million paid to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, was diverted from the exchange's customers.

Search of Mr. Salame's $4 million home indicates feds have not completed investigation into FTX collapse as they prepare for the trial of Mr. Bankman-Fried scheduled for October. They examine a range of employees and advisers in the former crypto mogul's orbit, including Mr. Bankman-Fried's younger brother.

Jason Linder, attorney for Mr. Salame, did not respond to a request for comment.

An F.B.I. the spokeswoman declined to comment.

It is unclear what authorities were looking for during the search, which took place around 7 a.m., according to a person who sent a photo of the F.B.I. officers gathered outside the home of The New York Times.

A native of Sandisfield, Mass., a town in the Berkshires, Mr. Salame worked for EY, the accounting firm global and advisory firm better known as Ernst & Young, before working for Mr. Bankman-Fried at Alameda Research, a Hong Kong-based crypto hedge fund.

He soon became one of Mr. Bankman-Fried's most loyal and trusted lieutenants. After FTX moved to the Bahamas in 2021, Mr. Salame served as an intermediary between the company and the local government, and he was appointed co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the exchange's Bahamian business entity.

Mr. Salame became extremely wealthy as the crypto market exploded and FTX reached a valuation of $32 billion. FTX bankruptcy lawyers and advisers said in March that Mr. Salame received $87 million in bonuses and loans from Alameda. He was one of half a dozen senior executives who received a total of $3.2 billion in payouts.

Mr. Salame split his time between Washington and the Bahamas, and he began dating Michelle Bond, who ran a crypto lobbying group and campaigned unsuccessfully for Congress as a Republican from Long Island. At home in the Berkshires, Mr Salame