Former Alameda co-CEO Sam Trabucco calls for 'fair' consequences for Ryan Salame in character reference

Sam Trabucco, former co-CEO of the crypto trading firm Alameda Research, wrote around three pages of support for former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame. 

In the May 6 statement, which is among the longest of Salame's 28 character references, Trabucco admits that Salame engaged in illicit activity. However, he adds that Salame's punishment should be proportional to his constitution, which Trabucco endearingly described. 

"Simply put, Ryan is my best friend," Trabucco wrote in the statement. "He has also committed crimes. He’s acknowledged that and is prepared to accept the consequences. I want those consequences to be fair — not too light, not too excessive, but fair."

Salame pled guilty to conspiracy to make an unlawful political contribution and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. His trial is scheduled for May 28, and he has requested no more than 18 months in prison, The Block previously reported. 

Trabucco served as Alameda's CEO along with Caroline Ellison for about a year before resigning in August 2022. Salame served as the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, a subsidiary of Sam Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange. 

Deep friendship

Trabucco described an unlikely friendship with Salame, one made of seemingly polar opposite individuals but one that he found immense joy in. 

"On paper, it makes very little sense that Ryan and I are so close —  so committing it to words is a little odd. He loves to be social; I love to play board games. He’s effortlessly popular; I’m a nerd who’s hard to connect with. But unlike many who look and sound like him, Ryan sees easily past the superficial," Trabucco said, adding later that "[…] Without that openness, we never would have learned how hilarious we find each other — outsiders describe our conversations as more like improv than anything — and we’d also have missed out on what I consider a very unique friendship, which I treasure immensely."

Trabucco added that Salame was a "sought-after" employee at Alameda, with not only prodigious crypto knowledge but an easygoing personality. When Salame and Trabucco spent long hours overworked in the FTX Hong Kong office, Trabucco described Salame's purposeful effort to include him in activities. 

"Without him, I’m honestly not sure how I would have made it through those years — he single-handedly made the hardest period of my life bearable by being a great friend to someone who he could tell needed one, and I’ll never forget that."

In all, Trabucco asks that Salame's punishment equate to not only his illegal actions but benevolent character. "Ryan deserves to face the consequences of his actions — he intimately understands that. All I want is for those consequences to be fair — for him, but also for the world, which will be so much worse off not having him fully in it," Trabucco said.