Update Friday, Sept. 8 3:40 p.m.:
According to a consent preliminary order of forfeiture filed on Thursday, Sept. 7, Salame will forfeit:
- The Old Heritage Tavern, located on 12 Housatonic Street, Lenox.
- His house, located at 8 Tucker Street in Lenox.
- His ownership and equity interest in East Rood Farm Corporation.
- His 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S.
As part of the order, Salame has agreed to pay $6 million by March 6, 2024.
See the forfeiture agreement document here.
Original article:
On Thursday, September 7, in the United States Southern District Court of New York, Ryan Salame entered two guilty pleas for the charges of Conspiracy to Make Unlawful Political Contributions and Defraud the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and Conspiracy to Operate an Unlicensed Money Transmitting Business.
Salame, a Sandisfield resident, is co-chief executive officer of FTX, a cryptocurrency exchange that was founded in 2019. In January 2022, the company had been valued at $32 billion; however, the company has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings since November 2022. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has been under federal investigation for fraud over the company’s collapse, while Salame has been under investigation for campaign finance violations.
After Salame entered his plea, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams issued the following statement:
“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. Today’s guilty plea reflects the commitment I made in December that my Office would continue to pursue swift justice against individuals at FTX and its affiliates who engaged in criminal conduct.”
A document issued by Williams details the charges against Salame, from 2020 to November 2022:
“[Salame] engaged in multiple conspiracies to advance the interests of Samuel Bankman-Fried and the cryptocurrency companies Bankman-Fried founded and controlled, including FTX.com and Alameda Research, through the operation of an unlawful money transmitting business and violations of the federal election law. Specifically, Salame conspired to operate Alameda and its affiliates on behalf of FTX as a means for transmitting funds on behalf of FTX customers, even though Salame and his co-conspirators never obtained the required federal money transmitting licenses for Alameda and the relevant affiliates. From at least in or about 2020, up and including in or about November 2022, Salame conspired to influence cryptocurrency regulation in Washington, D.C. by steering tens of millions of dollars of illegal campaign contributions to both Democrats and Republicans.”
Williams further states:
“In total, Salame … and his co-conspirators made over 300 political contributions, totaling tens of millions of dollars, that were unlawful because they were made in the name of a straw donor or paid for with corporate funds. In dozens of instances, the use of straw donors allowed Samuel Bankman-Fried to evade contribution limits on individual donations to candidates to whom Bankman-Fried had already donated. As a result of this fraudulent conduct, Salame and his co-conspirators caused false information to be reported by campaigns and PA Cs to the Federal Election Commission (“FEC”), which had the result of impairing and impeding the FEC’s reporting and enforcement functions.”
According to news reports, Salame was released on a $1 million bond after his guilty pleas. As part of his plea, Salame agreed to forfeit more than $1.5 billion to the federal government, pay a $6 million fine to the United States Government, pay $5 million to debtors of FTX, and surrender two houses owned in Lenox and his 2021 Porsche.
Salame is scheduled for sentencing on March 6 by Judge Lewis Kaplan at the United States District Court in Manhattan, with the maximum possible sentence of 10 years.
As FTX started to make money over time, Sandisfield native Salame started to buy up restaurants in Lenox, including Firefly, the Olde Heritage Tavern, Sweet Dreams, the Lenox Catering Company, Campfire, and The Lunch Pail, which are all operated under The Lenox Eats Collective. Salame also purchased the building at 27 Housatonic Street and another restaurant building on Franklin Street. As of press time, it is not known what will happen to these Salame-owned businesses.
See the full document issued by U.S. Attorney Damian Williams here.
