Ryan Salame (31), the former co-CEO of failed cryptocurrency trading platform FTX and close aide of Sam Bankman-Fried, updated his LinkedIn profile amid being scheduled to begin a seven and a half years prison term today (October 11, US time).
In what many commentors treated as a humourous update, Salame updated his current job and experience sections on the professional social networking platform to reflect his impending jail time.
As co-CEO Salame was one of Bankman-Fried’s top lieutenants at FTX. he is facing the seven and a half year jail term for crimes committed while working at the fraudulent cryptocurrency exchange, Bloomberg reported.
Salame will report to a federal correctional institution in Cumberland, Maryland, on October 11 to begin the sentence. He was convicted for campaign-finance law violations, the report added.
Salame was due to surrender to the Federal Bureau of Prisons on August 29 but in July asked for a delay to undergo surgery after being attacked by a dog.
Judge Lewis A Kaplan termed Salame's violations as “astonishing” as Salame expressed frustration at what he called “harsh treatment” rather than contrition for felonies, it said.
Salame pleaded guilty to evading US banking laws and participating in a straw donor scheme for Bankman-Fried. But in an interview on October 7 he claimed that he entered the plea to protect his wife, crypto lobbyist Michelle Bond. As per the report he has accused prosecutors of not keeping promises about dropping investigations against Bond in return for his guilty plea.
However, the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office has denied these claims and called Salame’s attempt to backtrack “shameless”, the report added.
Earlier he also accused the United States Justice Department of corruption and repeatedly questioned the reliability of former colleagues who helped convict Bankman-Fried.
(With inputs from Bloomberg)
