US prosecutors say former FTX executive Ryan Salame should serve five to seven years in prison

U.S. prosecutors are suggesting an imprisonment term of five to seven years for former FTX executive Ryan Salame, who pleaded guilty to criminal charges last September.

Salame’s lawyers have urged the court to hand out a lenient sentence of no more than 18 months in prison, but prosecutors noted in a sentencing memo released Tuesday that a substantial term of incarceration — well above the 18 months’ imprisonment Salame requested — is required.

“The defendant’s assertion that his crimes were intended only to help FTX and the cryptocurrency industry more generally are not mitigating and also belied by the evidence, which indicates that the defendant personally benefited in numerous ways from his criminal actions,” the prosecutors wrote. 

“Only a substantial incarceratory sentence could appropriately reflect the nature and seriousness of his conduct and afford adequate deterrence,” the prosecutors added.

However, Salame’s attorneys argued that he did not play a central role in fraudulent activity and lost much of his personal fortune with the collapse of FTX. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was found guilty of defrauding clients and sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison.

Salame’s sentencing is scheduled for May 28 in a New York courtroom. He was a high-ranking executive at Alameda Research and then at FTX.com from 2019 to 2022, according to the memo.

The prosecutors said Salame committed serious crimes to “foster the growth of FTX and burnish Bankman-Fried’s image.”

“The campaign finance offense is one of the largest-ever in American history, and the unlicensed money transmitting business exchanged more than $1 billion without proper supervision,” the prosecutors added.