Guy who was obviously part of the fraud and one of the most inner circle guys.
7.5 years doesn't seem bad compared to what SBF got(25 years).
Close to a quarter of the sentence for helping the prosecution and signed a plea deal rather than go to court.
There are a few other former FTX employees who are a probably not very happy today. That's more than what the prosecution asked for in terms of length.
> . As part of his plea deal, he agreed to forfeit over $1.5 billion, which included fines, restitution to FTX debtors, and the surrender of several properties and assets (CoinDesk) (Cointelegraph) .
SO he had to give back almost all his assets as well.
Salame was the only criminally-charged executive [0] to not testify against SBF. Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh all testified in the trial as part of their plea deals and are still awaiting sentencing. Will be interesting to see how their prison time compares with Salame's
If SBF had pleaded out and collaborated with investigators instead of taking the trial option, it's very possible he could have walked away with much less time. An extra 15 years for insisting on his innocence seems reasonable.
They call it the trial tax. Sure you have a constitutional right to it, but they are going to unconstitutionally punish you for exercising it. You should just waive your rights. Funniest part is they actually have to say in court when you take a plea that you weren't coerced into a plea, even though everyone knows and just pretends that the trial tax isnt coercion. The system is based on lieing under oath and the pressuring people to give up their rights.
I never thought I'd see so many high-level executives facing penalties for their crimes. Excellent. I feel the same about this as a non-doping athlete might feel about their doped competitor being held accountable. It's not a level playing field when some people are allowed to cheat with impunity. Competition requires everyone to play by the same rules, or in this case, laws.
At the end of the day the FTX crew were still outsiders. They tried to buy political influence, but the type of regulatory capture that F500 companies enjoy takes decades to cultivate.
Plenty of high level executives get punished, iff they hurt other rich people. FTX took from investors. You can steal from poor people all you want, but if you steal from the rich you go to jail.
I thought the main problem was that FTX commingled regular deposits (i.e. normal people's funds) with at-risk investments. I.e. they're mostly guilty because there wasn't a wall protecting the deposits.
I haven't heard anything about Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison's criminal cases in a while. Anyone know the status of cases of these two? What kind of sentences are they expected to receive?
I think four years is the right amount of time, and serve the whole four. I don't see them as blatantly criminal as SBF, and while agreeing to plead guilty and testifying against SBF is good, it doesn't quite mitigate their role for two years. It makes one wonder, though.. If SBF had just a little bit of humility and plead guilty.. I could see him as getting less than 8.
The sentencing guidelines + enhancements are all in months - so the eventual sentence is reported in months as well. Months are granular enough to discern between 7 months and 17 months which would both be "1 year" but are much different sentences.
> He agreed to forfeit over $1.5B in assessts. I doubt he has much if anything left at this point.
Legitimate Source? Your link says that he _could_, multiple times. The article from the Justice Dept in OP says about 11 million.
Edit: Patent edited for a source, but still, Salame didn't pay the full $1.5B, as per parent's article:
> Should Salame pay the $6 million and turn over the various properties by the set deadlines – referred to as the substitute assets – he will be off the hook for the full amount, a DOJ filing said. "Upon receipt of the payment ... the [U.S.] shall accept the Payment and Substitute Assets in full satisfaction of the Money Judgement," the filing said.
So, he _didn't _ actually pay $1.5B. He may have agreed to forfeit it, but he still didn't have to pay that much, which was the point of GP's comment.
That judgemental didn't go through as per a quote from the article you posted:
> Should Salame pay the $6 million and turn over the various properties by the set deadlines – referred to as the substitute assets – he will be off the hook for the full amount, a DOJ filing said. "Upon receipt of the payment ... the [U.S.] shall accept the Payment and Substitute Assets in full satisfaction of the Money Judgement," the filing said.
The press release says he's paying $11+ million in fines and restitution
> In addition to the prison term, SALAME, 30, of Potomac, Maryland, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.
Meh. I wouldn’t take any amount of money for 90 months in prison. Not sure if cooperators in financial crimes are considered “snitches” but I’m sure it doesn’t help. No thanks.
- Age when sentenced/age when released with expected 'good behavior'
- Amount of money hidden away that the prosecution couldn't find
- Where you are serving your sentence.
7.5 years (~5 after time served/good behavior) when you're 30 years old and >$100MM in hidden assets after serving time at a non-pound-me-in-the-ass-playground might be worth it to some--obviously not you, but maybe some.
The rule against snitches does not apply to a camp-level prison, where he would serve. I am sure many people would trade in 5 years in low-level prison (he will not serve the full 90 months) for tens of millions or more awaiting.
The wealthy, when incarcerated (eg Weinstein, Spector or Cosby) are quite safe as they can and will easily afford to pay into to the prison protection rackets.
Readit News
7.5 years doesn't seem bad compared to what SBF got(25 years).
Close to a quarter of the sentence for helping the prosecution and signed a plea deal rather than go to court.
There are a few other former FTX employees who are a probably not very happy today. That's more than what the prosecution asked for in terms of length.
> . As part of his plea deal, he agreed to forfeit over $1.5 billion, which included fines, restitution to FTX debtors, and the surrender of several properties and assets (CoinDesk) (Cointelegraph) .
SO he had to give back almost all his assets as well.
[0] https://apnews.com/article/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-ryan-salame...
I couldn't remember the list of testifiers.
If they were earned through fraud then they were never really his in the first place.
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They don’t just steal the customer money and buy themselves luxury real estate.
The fix guys are in trouble because they were both very corrupt and very bad at creating even the thinnest veneer of plausible deniability.
But yes, it's frequent enough that I hope it dissuades at least some would-be scammers not to risk it.
SBF put a ceiling on the sentencing because he was very guilty, fully in charge, and showed no remorse.
So if the gummint's legal eagles say that the past tense of "plead" is "pled", I guess that settles it ?
https://www.thehardylawfirm.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2018...
This is false. He agreed to forfeit over $1.5B in assessts. I doubt he has much if anything left at this point.
https://www.coindesk.com/policy/2023/09/07/ex-ftx-executive-...
EDIT
:) Fine
https://downloads.coindesk.com/legal/2023.09.07%20Signed%20M...
Page 2 second paragraph....
Legitimate Source? Your link says that he _could_, multiple times. The article from the Justice Dept in OP says about 11 million.
Edit: Patent edited for a source, but still, Salame didn't pay the full $1.5B, as per parent's article:
> Should Salame pay the $6 million and turn over the various properties by the set deadlines – referred to as the substitute assets – he will be off the hook for the full amount, a DOJ filing said. "Upon receipt of the payment ... the [U.S.] shall accept the Payment and Substitute Assets in full satisfaction of the Money Judgement," the filing said.
So, he _didn't _ actually pay $1.5B. He may have agreed to forfeit it, but he still didn't have to pay that much, which was the point of GP's comment.
> Should Salame pay the $6 million and turn over the various properties by the set deadlines – referred to as the substitute assets – he will be off the hook for the full amount, a DOJ filing said. "Upon receipt of the payment ... the [U.S.] shall accept the Payment and Substitute Assets in full satisfaction of the Money Judgement," the filing said.
It says "Could " Do people even read the headlines they link to? The DOJ link did not mention giving up everything. It said restitution of millions.
I don't think it's possible for a billionaire to cease being rich.
> In addition to the prison term, SALAME, 30, of Potomac, Maryland, was sentenced to three years of supervised release and ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.
- Age when sentenced/age when released with expected 'good behavior'
- Amount of money hidden away that the prosecution couldn't find
- Where you are serving your sentence.
7.5 years (~5 after time served/good behavior) when you're 30 years old and >$100MM in hidden assets after serving time at a non-pound-me-in-the-ass-playground might be worth it to some--obviously not you, but maybe some.