According to BlockBeats, on September 19, Michelle Bond, the partner of former FTX co-CEO Ryan Salame, pleaded not guilty to four charges of campaign finance violations in the Southern District of New York Federal Court. The charges include conspiracy to cause illegal campaign contributions, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, causing and accepting illegal corporate donations, and causing and accepting donations from intermediaries.
The charges stem from Bond’s alleged misrepresentation of the source of funds in her 2022 campaign for a Republican seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Salame allegedly arranged for FTX to pay $400,000 to finance her campaign, while Bond allegedly made false statements to the Federal Election Commission (FEC) and congressional committees.
It is worth noting that Salame had previously pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 90 months in prison, but after Bond was indicted, he asked the court to withdraw his guilty plea, saying that the plea was based on the prosecutor’s promise not to investigate his partner. Judge Lewis Kaplan said he would consider whether to revoke Salame’s guilty plea. Currently, Bond is still released on $1 million bail, but is restricted from traveling within the United States. Judge George Daniels has scheduled a pre-trial conference for January 2025. In the FTX and Alameda Research criminal prosecutions, as of September 18, only Salame and SBF have been sentenced to prison. Sentencing hearings for other executives involved in the case will be held in the coming months.
