FTX Sues Former Bahamian Co-CEO Ryan Salame to Recover $98.8M in Cash and Crypto

The bankrupt FTX exchange has filed a lawsuit against Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of its Bahamian subsidiary, seeking to recover approximately $98.8 million in cash and crypto

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX has filed a lawsuit against Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of its Bahamian subsidiary, seeking to recover approximately $98.8 million in cash and crypto, according to a Nov. 4 court filing.

The failed firm accuses Salame of knowingly assisting other executives—most notably, founder Sam Bankman-Fried—in breaching fiduciary duties and misappropriating customer assets.

“Despite Salame’s concerted efforts to obscure his receipt and expenditure of misappropriated Debtor assets, it is evident that Salame reaped substantial benefits from his role in ‘perpetrating aspects of the interrelated frauds that Bankman-Fried carried out at both companies,'” the exchange wrote in the filing.

The exchange alleges that Salame personally gained from his involvement and received significant compensation between November 2020 and November 2022. During this period, Salame received $52.9 million in wire transfers, $29.8 million in cash and crypto withdrawals, and over $7.7 million in salary and bonuses, according to FTX.

He also reportedly acquired nine million FTT tokens, sold 1.1 million for $24 million, and invested the proceeds in assets like luxury cars, businesses, and a $2.3 million stake in RedBird Capital Partners Fund IV.

The FTX lawsuit also draws attention to Salame's guilty plea in April 2023. During her failed Congressional campaign, he admitted to conspiring to make false statements to banks as part of an unlicensed money-transmitting business and making an excessive political donation to his former partner, Michelle Bond.

The exchange went on to allege that Salame further misused estate funds by withdrawing $5 million from his FTX.com account on Nov. 7, 2022. These funds, they allege, went toward personal expenses, including a public relations firm and a $20,000 personal charge at Restoration Hardware.

FTX has asked the court to disallow Salame’s claims in the exchange’s Chapter 11 proceedings until he returns all assets acquired through these transfers. This includes cash, crypto, and real estate spanning multiple locations—Connecticut, Miami, Portugal, Hong Kong, and Bali—obtained with the allegedly misappropriated funds.

In October, Salame began a 90-month prison sentence following his guilty plea to conspiracy charges related to illegal political contributions and fraud against the Federal Election Commission.

As part of his plea agreement, Salame agreed to forfeit $1.5 billion, serve three years of supervised release, and pay over $6 million in forfeiture and $5 million in restitution.

Mentioned in this article

Oluwapelumi Adejumo

Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.

Liam 'Akiba' Wright

Also known as "Akiba," Liam Wright is the Editor-in-Chief at CryptoSlate and host of the SlateCast. He believes that decentralized technology has the potential to make widespread positive change.

The above is the detailed content of FTX Sues Former Bahamian Co-CEO Ryan Salame to Recover $98.8M in Cash and Crypto. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!