Judge George Daniels Denies Michelle Bond Bid To Dismiss FTX-Linked Campaign Finance Charges

Michelle Bond, the wife of former FTX executive Ryan Salame, will face illicit campaign finance charges after a Manhattan federal judge rejected her bid to dismiss an indictment tied to money she allegedly took from the now-bankrupt crypto exchange FTX to bankroll her unsuccessful run for Congress in 2022.

“Michelle Bond faces campaign finance charges linked to FTX after judge denies dismissal bid The wife of convicted FTX executive Ryan Salame cannot shake a four-count indictment alleging she funneled crypto exchange money into her 2022 congressional campaign”

Crypto Briefing

Manhattan federal judge George Daniels denied Bond’s motion, writing there was “no ambiguity” in the terms of Salame’s written plea agreement and stating that “the Government had not promised Bond's immunity” by the time Salame entered his guilty plea.

Crypto Briefing

Daniels said the evidence “undisputably indicates that the Government did not promise to not prosecute Bond in exchange for Salame's guilty plea,” keeping the case active in federal court.

The Reuters-linked account describes the FTX collapse in 2022 as shaking the cryptocurrency industry and says the order could set up the last of the criminal trials tied to FTX, closing a chapter on one of crypto’s biggest blowups in history.

Prosecutors alleged that after Bond launched a bid for a House seat in 2022, Salame orchestrated a consulting agreement between Bond and FTX, where she was paid $400,000.

The government alleges Bond then used those funds to illegally finance her congressional campaign, along with “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in additional funds that Salame wired to her between June and August 2022.

Cryptonews.net

Bond is facing charges of conspiring to cause unlawful political contributions, causing and receiving a straw donor contribution, along with causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions and an unlawful corporate contribution, and each of the four charges carries a maximum of five years in prison.

The Crypto Briefing account adds that Bond was indicted on August 22, 2024, on four counts in the Southern District of New York, and that the judge’s denial of her motion to dismiss keeps the case moving toward trial.

The denial of Bond’s motion keeps allegations tied to former FTX executive Ryan Salame active in the Southern District of New York, with the case listed as USA v. Bond (24-cr-00494).

“Judge Denies Michelle Bond Bid To Dismiss FTX-Linked Campaign Finance Case Share: A federal judge in the Southern District of New York denied Michelle Bond’s motion to dismiss campaign finance charges in USA v”

CryptoRank

The Cryptonews.net account says Salame, who was the co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets, was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison in May 2024 after pleading guilty to conspiring to make illegal political contributions and operating an illegal money transmitter.

Bond’s defense argued that then-Manhattan US Attorney Danielle Sassoon told her and Salame’s lawyer in a 2023 meeting that “without making promises outside the four corners of the plea agreement,” if Salame pleaded guilty, prosecutors would “conclude the aspects of our investigation that concern RS (Ryan Salame), but not SBF (Sam Bankman-Fried).”

With the dismissal bid denied, the Crypto Briefing account says the case will proceed toward trial and notes that if Bond is convicted on all four counts, she could face up to 20 years in prison, while the ruling keeps the broader FTX legal fallout tied to American electoral politics in federal court.