FTX Bahamas co-CEO says "the government made up a completely false narrative"

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Who is Ryan Salame?

Ryan was Head of OTC—APAC at Alameda Research from November 2019, before becoming co-CEO of the Bahamian FTX entity (FTX Digital Markets) in September 2021. Following FTX’s collapse, the US government charged him with conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. Ryan pleaded guilty in September 2023, but refused to testify against Sam. In May 2024, he was sentenced by Judge Kaplan to 7.5 years’ imprisonment—longer than the ranges recommended by both the defense and the prosecution.

Ryan is set to report to prison on October 13th, 2024.

Lying witnesses, coerced legal theater, blood-sucking lawyers: Ryan on X

I think a lot of people deep down know something is wrong with the ftx story and over time, when people are ready, they’ll accept the government made up a completely false narrative

@rsalame7926, X (Aug 18, 2024)

Over recent months, Ryan has tweeted a stream of challenges to the prevailing FTX narrative. He has heavily hinted that he is innocent of the crimes he pleaded guilty to, but is nonetheless going to prison because those who would have defended him were silenced/intimidated while those who supported the government’s narrative were promised freedom, because access to relevant documents was restricted, and because his lawyers pushed him to lie to save himself.

Ryan has also claimed that:

  1. People lied in Sam’s trial, which Ryan calls “one sided coerced legal theater provided by people willing to say anything to stay out of prison. Much of it not rooted in reality”
  2. The government pressured Nishad to plead guilty to campaign finance fraud, even though Nishad believed himself to be innocent; Nishad also lied about unapproved transfers being made from his account by Ryan
  3. Caroline similarly lied to save herself and is more guilty than Sam
  4. Ryan’s political activity was about pandemic policy, not self-serving crypto regulation
  5. Lawyers told him that he didn’t need the licenses that were the basis for his “unlicensed money-transmitting” conviction, and he still doesn’t know why they were needed
  6. Contrary to one of the dropped charges against Sam, there was no bank fraud (in fact, far from being lied to about the final destination of the deposits, Silvergate Bank suggested the set-up in the first place)
  7. Customer fiat funds such as USD were “blatantly and publicly not segregated”—“Funds weren’t ‘siphoned from FTX into alameda’. It makes no sense. Customers…directly wir[ed] to alameda (and then ND (and then eventually ftx got a bank account…))…FTX literally couldn’t custody users dollars 1:1 because of the stablecoin basket, FTX publicly told users they were otc trading their usd into ftx stablecoin basket, terms of service noted this, AND FTX allowed margin borrowing which tons of clients utilized”
  8. Sam didn’t even know about loans to Ryan for months; the loans were, however, authorized by Caroline and lawyers and executed by a large team
  9. Sam “hated flying private, I was one of the main people that pushed him to do it and in court they used it against him like he was a greedy villain cause of it” and “he hated the penthouse it just had the right number of bedrooms”
  10. FTX, Alameda, and FTX US were solvent at the time of the bankruptcy
  11. In a world where FTX didn’t file for bankruptcy, “everyone is in a much better position except the blood sucking lawyers”
  12. Many former FTX and Alameda employees are too scared of the bankruptcy lawyers to speak the truth publicly

It appears that the above are mere teasers—Ryan has indicated multiple times that he will tell much more of his story in upcoming interviews and a book.

Ryan’s partner indicted—did prosecutors break Ryan’s plea deal?

On August 22, 2024, Ryan’s romantic partner Michelle Bond was arrested on campaign finance charges. Ryan says this breaks his own plea agreement and therefore asks that the government either drop the charges against Michelle or void his own guilty plea.

:card_index_dividers: Michelle’s indictment
:card_index_dividers: Ryan’s petition and declaration
:card_index_dividers: The government’s response and attachments: Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 3, Exhibit 4, Exhibit 5, Exhibit 6

Join the discussion here: Why did Ryan Salame plead guilty? - #4 by Maria*

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Just saw where Ryan is reversing bid to vacate his guilty plea. Does this have to do with his partner’s indictment?

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I think so – his lawyers say it makes more sense now to settle the matter as part of Michelle’s legal proceedings: “Mr. Salame stands by the facts set forth in the Petition and his accompanying declaration. Mr. Salame is withdrawing the Petition, however, to allow the facts to be developed by Ms. Bond, and a ruling to be made in her case…Since the primary relief sought in the Petition is dismissal of the indictment against Ms. Bond, it makes sense to adjudicate the issues raised in the Petition in the docket in which the indictment is pending”.

That sounds reasonable to me. But I’m no judge, and this judge clearly thinks otherwise :see_no_evil: “Kaplan ruled that he would still hold a hearing on the original petition regardless of Salame’s motion to withdraw it. The judge made Salame’s attendance at the hearing a part of his bail conditions.”

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So many twists and turns!

I’m not entirely sure what to make of this.

It sounds like the judge has accepted that prosecutors made and then broke an agreement not to indict Michelle. He’s furious with Ryan for initially lying about there being no promises outside of the written plea agreement. The judge grilled him and threatened him with sanctions and brought forward the date he must report to prison. And okay, in a way, fair enough – it’s bad to commit perjury. Even if you’re doing it on the basis of the government saying they can’t make the promise “outside the four corners of the plea agreement” because that’s just not the way it works okay, take it or leave it – there’s still at least something bad about it.

But…shouldn’t the judge be more furious with the prosecutors? Why the repeated complaints about Ryan “inducing” the judge, but no rebuking prosecutors for inducing Ryan to induce the judge? None of the articles I’ve seen report any sign of the judge being so much as mildly miffed with the government. Has anyone else found otherwise? Am I missing something?

[Correction: Ryan and this small Turkish news site are saying it’s Ryan’s lawyers who might be sanctioned. That makes more sense. Although everyone I’ve spoken to and every journalist I’ve read seem to think it’s unclear whether it was the prosecutors or the lawyers who lied, so something still doesn’t feel right here.]

Loving the (Freudian?) typo though.

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