Prosecutors Tell NY Court They Didn’t Renege on FTX Exec Ryan Salame’s Plea Deal

However, it’s been argued by the prosecution that no promises were ever given to Salame, be it formally or casually, and they maintain that their pursuit of Bond is legitimate.

On Thursday, prosecutors submitted a strongly worded 32-page document to U.S. District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan in the Southern District of New York (SDNY), urging him not to grant Salame’s recent request to either enforce the terms of his plea agreement or dismiss it altogether, along with his sentence. They characterized this request as a “manipulative and self-centered effort” intended to retract his guilty plea and conviction, and to hinder the legitimate prosecution of Michelle Bond.

A lawyer who once worked for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and headed a crypto advocacy group based in Washington D.C., has been indicted for breaking campaign finance regulations by receiving prohibited political donations from Salame and other FTX staff during her unsuccessful 2022 bid for a Congressional seat. If found guilty of all charges, she could potentially spend up to 20 years behind bars.

On the day Bond was indicted by the prosecution, Salame’s legal team submitted a request to the court claiming that “the Government breached its unstated promise not to proceed with the campaign finance charges against Bond.”

On August 29th, Salame chose to pull back his appeal request so that Bond could raise the matter in her individual case. However, Judge Kaplan decided that a hearing on the initial petition would still take place, regardless of Salame’s request to withdraw it. The judge also made it a requirement for Salame’s attendance as part of his bail terms. In late October, Salame plans to voluntarily surrender himself to prison to start serving his sentence.

Prosecutors have urged Kaplan to reject the petition without a hearing.

In the memo, the prosecutors labeled Salame’s claims as “incorrect, inadequate, and completely untrue.” They also emphasized that they had not violated their agreement with Salame, stating there was no indication in the agreement that the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York would refrain from charging any of Salame’s criminal accomplices due to his guilty plea.

Salame’s and Bond’s legal representatives were aware that Salame’s guilty plea would not impact Bond’s trial, according to prosecutors. They provided evidence of conversations from May 2023, where they assert that they had clearly communicated to the defense attorneys: “A deal for Ryan will not resolve the investigation into Michelle’s actions.”

A hearing on the matter is slated for Sep. 12, 2024.