- April 30, 2023
- No Comments
Former FTX executive home raided by FBI Thursday morning at the Potomac, Maryland home of Ryan Salame, a former executive at FTX and a significant campaign contributor to Republican political candidates. According to two sources familiar with the matter, Mr. Salame, who ran FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary and was part of the close circle of advisers around FTX’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried, is under scrutiny over the $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year’s midterm elections.
The search of Mr. Salame’s $4 million house signals that federal authorities are not done with their investigation into FTX’s collapse as they prepare for Mr. Bankman-Fried’s trial set for October. Mr. Bankman-Fried has been charged with orchestrating a vast fraud and illegal campaign finance scheme at FTX, and three of his former top executives have pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation and agreed to cooperate against their former boss.
Mr. Salame has become enormously wealthy as the crypto market boomed and FTX reached a $32 billion valuation. Bankruptcy lawyers and advisers for FTX said in March that Mr. Salame received $87 million in bonuses and loans from Alameda, the crypto hedge fund that he worked for before joining FTX. He was one of a half-dozen top executives who received a total of $3.2 billion in payouts. However, federal authorities have claimed that most of the $90 million contributed to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, had been misappropriated from customers of the exchange.
Former FTX executive home raided by FBI
Prosecutors have said that Mr. Bankman-Fried orchestrated a “straw donor” scheme to avoid limits on campaign contributions, recruiting executives to serve as proxies for his company and donate tens of millions of dollars to both parties. A revised indictment against Mr. Bankman-Fried recently identified Mr. Salame’s donations as part of the scheme, saying the FTX founder wanted to keep “dark” his support for Republican politicians.
The search of Mr. Salame’s home comes as federal authorities continue to scrutinize an array of employees and advisers in the former crypto mogul’s orbit, including Mr. Bankman-Fried’s younger brother. It is unclear what the authorities were looking for during the search, which took place around 7 a.m. According to a person who sent a photo of FBI agents gathered outside the home to The New York Times, an FBI spokeswoman declined to comment on the matter.
In conclusion, the search of Mr. Salame’s home highlights the ongoing investigation into FTX’s collapse and the alleged fraud and illegal campaign finance scheme orchestrated by its founder. Federal authorities are still examining various employees and advisers in the former crypto mogul’s orbit, and the search signals that the investigation is far from over.
-
Quick ViewSelect optionsDragonchain Clothing Store
Dragonchain Logo Unisex t-shirt
Rated 0 out of 5$20.50 – $22.00 Excluding Tax -
Quick ViewSelect optionsCardano Clothing Store
Cardano Full Logo Men’s heavyweight tee
Rated 0 out of 5$21.50 – $30.50 Excluding Tax -
Quick ViewSelect optionsKaspa Clothing Store
Kaspa Full Logo Unisex fleece sweatpants
Rated 0 out of 5$35.00 – $37.50 Excluding Tax -
Quick ViewSelect optionsCardano Clothing Store
Cardano Full Logo Unisex Hoodie
Rated 0 out of 5$39.00 – $41.00 Excluding Tax -
Quick ViewSelect optionsBitcoin Clothing Store
Bitcoin 3D Logo Unisex organic cotton tee
Rated 0 out of 5$28.50 Excluding Tax -
Quick ViewSelect optionsKaspa Clothing Store
Kaspa Full Logo Recycled tracksuit trousers
Rated 0 out of 5$52.50 Excluding Tax -
Quick ViewSelect options
-
Quick ViewSelect optionsBPSAA Clothing Store
Turtle Network Logo Short-Sleeve Unisex T-Shirt
Rated 0 out of 5$14.00 – $19.50 Excluding Tax
Related Posts
Hong Kong Retail Investors Can Trade Bitcoin Starting June 1st as the city’s new virtual-assets regime comes into effect, according to the Securities and Futures Commission (SFC). In a significant move towards establishing itself as a global Web3 hub, Hong Kong has finalized rules that permit licensed exchanges to sell popular cryptocurrencies like bitcoin and
US Inflation Slightly Weaker than Forecast in April
The US Inflation Slightly Weaker Than Forecast In April, according to the latest data, boosting Treasuries and Wall Street stocks as investors gained confidence that the Federal Reserve’s interest rate hikes are bringing price increases under control. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) declined to an annual rate of 4.9%, the lowest level since April 2021,
BRC-20 Tokens: The New Standard for Bitcoin-Based Tokens and NFTs
Bitcoin has long been the only cryptocurrency supported by the Bitcoin blockchain, but this is changing with the introduction of BRC-20 tokens: the new standard. In March 2023, Domo (@domodata on Twitter) created the BRC-20 token standard, which allows users to trade fungible assets using the Ordinals protocol on the Bitcoin blockchain. BRC-20 is inspired by
Federal Reserve Hikes by 25 Basis Points and Softens Guidance to Combat Inflation
The Federal Reserve Hikes by 25 Basis Points increase in its policy rate to 5.00%-5.25% on Wednesday, in line with expectations. The central bank’s monetary policy committee is closely monitoring incoming information to determine if additional policy firming may be necessary to return inflation to 2% over time. However, the committee’s statement softened from its