Former FTX executive Ryan Salame sentenced to seven and a half years in prison

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame was sentenced to 90 months after pleading guilty to criminal charges last year. 

Salame was sentenced on Tuesday by Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. He was also sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution, according to the U.S. Justice Department. 

"Ryan Salame agreed to advance the interests of FTX, Alameda Research, and his co-conspirators through an unlawful political influence campaign and through an unlicensed money transmitting business, which helped FTX grow faster and larger by operating outside of the law," said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams in a statement on Tuesday. "Salame’s involvement in two serious federal crimes undermined public trust in American elections and the integrity of the financial system. Today’s sentence underscores the substantial consequences for such offenses.” 

Salame pled guilty in September to conspiring to make unlawful political contributions as well as conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. He was previously the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets and worked with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried.

Salame had hoped to get a sentence of no more than 18 months in prison. His attorneys asserted that Salame did not play a central role in fraudulent activity and that he lost much of his personal fortune when FTX collapsed in November.

Meanwhile, prosecutors said Salame should serve five to seven years in prison. They said Salame committed serious crimes to “foster the growth of FTX and burnish Bankman-Fried’s image.”

Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX Co-Founder Gary Wang and FTX's former Engineering Director Nishad Singh have also all pleaded guilty. All three testified during Bankman-Fried's criminal trial last year, though Salame did not. 

Former FTX CEO Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March to almost 25 years in prison following a criminal fraud trial that took place late last year. Judge Kaplan accused Bankman-Fried of committing perjury during his trial and said the former top exec knew his actions were wrong.

Updated at 4:05 UTC time to include statement and details from the DOJ