The plea deal struck by Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, sits at the heart of the criminal case against his wife Michelle Bond, which returned to court on 25 September 2025 for an evidentiary hearing in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. Salame pleaded guilty in 2024 to conspiracy charges involving the illegal use of FTX-linked funds to finance political campaigns and was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison, where he has been serving time since October 2024. Bond was charged in August 2024 with conspiracy, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, and receiving unlawful conduit contributions, to all of which she pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors allege that Salame directed $400,000 in FTX funds to Bond's political campaign. Bond's defence team filed a motion on Sunday requesting permission for her to testify, arguing that the state of mind of both Bond and her husband at the time of the plea agreement is directly relevant to the issues before the court, and that her testimony is neither redundant nor irrelevant. Prosecutors rejected the request on Friday, contending that her testimony would likely not be relevant to Salame's plea deal. The defence also requested that former Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon, who led the prosecution against former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and four other executives including Salame, testify regarding any promises or inducements made to secure his guilty plea. Salame's lawyers had previously attempted to vacate his plea deal, claiming it was contingent on prosecutors not pursuing criminal charges against Bond, but he ultimately withdrew the complaint. Separately, the FTX Recovery Trust sued Salame and Bond in August 2025 in Delaware bankruptcy court over allegedly fraudulent transfers of a Maryland property and improper bank transactions, following an earlier November 2024 lawsuit against Salame over approximately $99 million in purportedly fraudulent transfers from the FTX Group.
The case continues nearly three years after FTX's collapse, as the FTX Recovery Trust prepares to distribute a further $1.6 billion to creditors on 30 September, bringing total repayments to $7.8 billion, underscoring that both the legal and financial consequences of the scandal continue to shape the crypto industry's trajectory.
Sources:
- https://www.cointribune.com/en/ftx-the-legal-saga-continues-around-the-salame-bond-couple/
- https://cointelegraph.com/news/ftx-ryan-salame-plea-deal-michelle-bond-court
- https://news.bloomberglaw.com/bankruptcy-law/ftx-trust-sues-ryan-salame-in-bankruptcy-court-to-recover-funds
- https://coincentral.com/ryan-salames-plea-deal-still-a-key-focus-in-wife-michelle-bonds-case/
