Found guilty by the court and sentenced to serve a prison sentence, 2 executives of FTX, the now bankrupt exchange, will be incarcerated for less time than expected. Their collaboration within the framework of the investigation carried out by the police and the prosecution was considered satisfactory.
2 former FTX executives, currently incarcerated, will spend less time in prison
Ryan Salame and Caroline Ellison, 2 former FTX executiveshave recently seen their sentence be reduced in the case related to the bankrupt exchange. The first concerned, former CEO of the FTX branch located in the Bahamas, will spend 1 year less by the prison cell, while the 2nd, ex-CEO of Alameda Research, will be incarcerated 3 months less than expected.
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Accused of exploiting FTX client funds to make donations to political action committees (PACs) supporting the Republican Party in the United States, Ryan Salame pleaded guilty in Manhattan court.
During his trial, the former exchange executive explained that his partner, Sam Bankman-Friedthe former CEO of FTX, was the mastermind behind these embezzlements. “ Ryan, who was not part of Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle, was unaware of the crimes at the center of this case, » declared his lawyers last May.
However, this did not stop the court from sentencing Ryan Salame to 7 and a half years in prison, sentence now reduced to 6 and a half years. The former executive began serving his sentence last October. This means that the end of his incarceration will be effective in April 2031. Following this, it will be placed on parolemonitored by law enforcement for 3 years.
As for Caroline Ellison, the former director of Alameda Research, an entity linked to FTX, she was convicted to 2 years in prison. Since November, she has been serving her sentence in a minimum security facility near Boston.
Note that it is possible that she finds freedom after a few months if she were to behave well behind bars, instead of of 1 year and 9 months planned.
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Reduced prison sentences for cooperating with the prosecution
If the 2 former executives were able to benefit from these sentence reductions, it is because that they were conciliatory with the prosecution and law enforcement, cooperating with them during their investigation. Furthermore, thanks to their guilty pleathey avoided holding a lengthy trial.
Caroline Ellison went further, taking on the role of crucial witness throughout the trial. Judge Lewis Kaplan, who handled this case, even underlined its cooperation indicating that he had not found “the slightest error of fact or inconsistency » in the words of the former director of Alameida Research.
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For his part, Ryan Salame remains generally disappointed with the judge's sentence. His lawyers hoped he would get a sentence not exceeding 18 months of incarcerationarguing that the confiscation of its cryptocurrencies already constituted a significant sanction.
Ryan Salame then tried to rescind his guilty pleawhich delayed his incarceration. According to him, the authorities did not respect their agreement according to which they would stop their investigation targeting his partner Michelle Bond in case of cooperation. Despite everything, his guilty plea has been validated and he was forced to begin serving his sentence.
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Source: Business Insider
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Surprised by the rise of crypto-assets at the end of the 2010s, I began to closely follow this sector which fascinates me to the greatest extent. When I'm not in football stadiums, rugby stadiums or handball halls, I work on writing relevant articles around cryptocurrencies and more broadly, Web3.
Zacharie Tazrout
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