“`html
Danielle Sassoon, one of the US attorneys leading the case against former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, recently took the stand in an evidentiary hearing concerning a deal with a company executive.
During a hearing on Thursday at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, Sassoon talked about Ryan Salame, the ex-co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, who pleaded guilty and is now facing over seven years behind bars.
According to reports from Inner City Press, Sassoon mentioned that her team would likely not dig deeper into Salame’s actions if he agreed to his guilty plea. However, further investigation involving him and his then-girlfriend, Michelle Bond, led to Bond facing campaign finance charges.
“I’m not in the business of gotcha or tricking people into pleading guilty,” Sassoon explained, while discussing the charges against Bond that came after Salame’s plea.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vWUlHcMK1E[/embed>
Bond, one of the last figures linked to the criminal cases of former FTX executives, is trying to get her charges dismissed by claiming that prosecutors “induced a guilty plea” from Salame. If her case ends, it would likely close the chapter on the criminal charges that began when FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Related: Three years after FTX’s collapse, creditors are waiting as the industry works to regain trust
She has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy involving unlawful campaign contributions, excessive campaign contributions, and other related offenses.
The charges are linked to Salame allegedly directing $400,000 from FTX connected to Bond’s 2022 campaign for a US House seat.
It’s been three years since FTX collapsed… who’s in prison?
Salame began his seven-and-a-half-year sentence in October 2024. Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, pleaded guilty and started serving a two-year term in November 2024.
Two more executives, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, also admitted guilt and received sentences of time served.
As for Bankman-Fried, things are still unfolding. The former CEO has been in jail since August 2023, after a judge revoked his bail due to witness intimidation claims. He was tried, found guilty, and sentenced to 25 years, making headlines in the crypto and blockchain community.
SBF’s lawyers returned to court on November 4 to seek an appeal of his conviction and sentence, arguing that he was “never presumed innocent” during the trial and couldn’t present evidence related to FTX’s solvency.
There’s also chatter among crypto fans that SBF might be looking for a pardon from US President Donald Trump. The president recently issued a pardon to former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, asserting that “what he did is not even a crime.”
Magazine: Bitcoin OG Kyle Chassé is just one strike away from a YouTube ban
Source link
“`