FTX Prosecution: Sassoon Testifies on Salame Deal, Bond's Charges in Evidentiary Hearing

FTX Prosecution: Sassoon Testifies on Salame Deal

In a recent development in the ongoing FTX saga, Danielle Sassoon, a key U.S. attorney involved in the prosecution of former FTX CEO Sam "SBF" Bankman-Fried, took the stand in an evidentiary hearing focused on a deal involving a former executive of the company.

Held at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, the hearing saw Sassoon provide testimony related to the guilty plea of Ryan Salame, previously the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, which resulted in a sentence exceeding seven years in prison. According to reports from Inner City Press, Sassoon stated that her team would "probably not continue to investigate [Salame’s] conduct" if he agreed to plead guilty.

Subsequent investigations into Salame and his then-girlfriend, Michelle Bond, led to the latter facing charges related to campaign finance. Sassoon commented, "I’m not in the business of gotcha or tricking people into pleading guilty," in reference to the charges brought against Bond after Salame’s plea.

Bond's Attempt to Dismiss Charges

Bond, one of the remaining figures connected to the criminal cases involving former FTX executives, is currently seeking to have her charges dismissed. Her legal team argues that prosecutors "induced a guilty plea" from Salame. The resolution of her case would likely signify the closing chapter in the criminal charges that originated with FTX’s bankruptcy filing in November 2022.

She has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to cause unlawful campaign contributions, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, causing and receiving an unlawful corporate contribution, and causing and receiving a conduit contribution. These charges are directly linked to allegations that Salame directed $400,000 in FTX-related funds to be used for Bond’s 2022 campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The Fate of Other FTX Executives

Three years after FTX's collapse, questions remain: Who is currently incarcerated?

Salame commenced his seven-and-a-half-year prison term in October 2024. Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research, pleaded guilty and began serving a two-year sentence in November 2024. Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, two other former executives named in the indictment, also pleaded guilty and received sentences equivalent to time served.

As for Bankman-Fried, the legal drama continues. He has been detained since August 2023, following a judge's decision to revoke his bail due to allegations of witness tampering. He was subsequently tried, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in prison, a process closely observed by many in the cryptocurrency and blockchain sectors.

SBF’s legal representatives returned to court on November 4 to appeal his conviction and sentence. They argued that Bankman-Fried was "never presumed innocent" during his trial and that his defense team was restricted from presenting information regarding FTX’s solvency.

Speculation also persists among cryptocurrency enthusiasts that SBF may be seeking a pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump. The president recently pardoned former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in October, asserting that "what he did is not even a crime."