Danielle Sassoon, one of the U.S. attorneys behind the case against former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, took the stand during an evidentiary hearing regarding a deal with one of the company’s executives.
At a hearing Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Sassoon testified about the guilty plea of Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, which resulted in his sentencing to more than seven years in prison.
According to a report by Inner City Press, Sassoon said that his team “would probably not continue to investigate [Salame’s] conduct” if he agreed to plead guilty. Further investigation into the former FTX executive and his then-girlfriend, Michelle Bond, resulted in the latter facing campaign finance costs.
“I’m not trying to mislead people or trick them into pleading guilty,” said Sassoon, referring to Bond’s accusation after Salame’s plea.
Bond, one of the last people linked to criminal cases involving former FTX executives, tried to have his charges dismissed. claims-based that prosecutors “urged Salame to plead guilty.” The end of his case would likely mark the final chapter of criminal charges that began when FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
Related: Three years after FTX collapse, creditors wait for industry to restore confidence
She has pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to procure illegal campaign contributions, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, causing and receiving an illegal corporate contribution, and causing and receiving a conduit contribution.
The charges are closely related to Salame allegedly ordering $400,000 in FTX-related funds, which were used for Bond’s 2022 campaign for a seat in the U.S. House of Representatives.
It’s been three years since FTX collapsed… who’s in jail?
Salami reported for his seven and a half year prison sentence in October 2024. Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research, pleaded guilty and began serving a two-year sentence in November 2024.
Two other former executives named in the indictment, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, pleaded guilty and were sentenced to prison.
But for Bankman-Fried, the saga continues. The former CEO was behind bars since August 2023, when a judge revoked his bail due to allegations of witness intimidation. He was later tried, convicted, and sentenced to 25 years in prison in proceedings closely watched by many in the crypto and blockchain industry.
SBF lawyers returned to court on Nov. 4 to argue for overturning the former CEO’s conviction and sentence. The filings claimed that Bankman-Fried was “never presumed innocent” during his trial and asserted that his legal team was not authorized to present information regarding FTX’s solvency.
There is also speculation among many cryptocurrency users that SBF could be try to obtain a pardon of American President Donald Trump. The president granted a pardon to former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao in October, saying “what he did is not even a crime.”
Review: Bitcoin OG Kyle Chassé is one shot away from a permanent YouTube
