Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, believes that he has been unfairly targeted by the US government due to his support of the Republican Party.
Salame made an appearance on the Tucker Carlson Show on Oct. 10, following a request to postpone his self-surrender date for medical reasons. In his conversation with Carlson, Salame expressed his frustration at being accused of campaign finance violations for his donations to the Republican Party, while his colleagues, including former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, were not charged with similar violations.
Despite not being charged in connection with the collapse of FTX, Salame is facing campaign finance violations for borrowing money from Alameda Research for political contributions. He claims to have donated between $20 million and $30 million to Republican candidates.
Salame’s lawyers had initially assured him that the loan money he donated was legal. However, he is now accused of orchestrating a straw donor scheme by unlawfully using someone else’s money to make political contributions in his name.
Salame also raised doubts about the validity of the second charge against him, which pertains to operating without a money transfer permit. He pointed out that Bankman-Fried donated significantly more to Democratic candidates during the 2020 election cycle.
Salame alleged that federal prosecutors pressured him to plead guilty by threatening to investigate the mother of his child. Despite agreeing to plead guilty on the condition that his family would not be involved, Salame claims that the government has violated this agreement by continuing to pursue his child’s mother.
Salame criticized the American justice system for prioritizing convictions over the truth and highlighted that none of Bankman-Fried’s family members have faced legal consequences despite their association with the convicted entrepreneur.
On October 9, former CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, settled the case with FTX by transferring “substantially all of its assets.” Ellison agreed to surrender all assets not forfeited to the government in her criminal case or used for legal fees, leaving her with only certain physical personal property.
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