Former FTX executive Ryan Salame has prison release date moved up by more than a year
AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
- Ryan Salame, an ex-FTX executive, appears to have had time shaved off his scheduled release from prison.
- Salame began his 7 ½ year sentence for his role in a massive crypto fraud scheme in October.
- Federal prison records show Salame is scheduled to be released in March 2031.
Ryan Salame, a former top executive at the failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, reported to federal prison in October to start his 7 ½ year sentence for his role in Sam Bankman-Fried's multi-billion-dollar fraud scheme.
And it appears that Salame — who was in the inner circle of Bankman-Fried, the disgraced crypto tycoon and FTX founder — has already had his prison release date moved up by more than a year.
Salame was sentenced in May after he pleaded guilty to criminal charges related to the 2022 collapse of Bankman-Fried's crypto exchange. Salame began his prison sentence at Maryland's medium-security Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland on October 11.
Federal Bureau of Prisons records viewed by Business Insider in mid-December show Salame's prison release date as scheduled for March 1, 2031 — which is just over a year short of 7 ½ years.
Salame's attorneys did not respond to requests for comment for this story. A Bureau of Prisons spokesman told BI the agency didn't comment on the confinement conditions of any person in custody, including release plans, but said incarcerated individuals could earn time off their sentence for good behavior under the 2018 First Step Act.
"Every incarcerated individual earns Good Conduct Time (GCT), which is projected on their release date," the spokesman told BI in an email, explaining that under the First Step Act, "qualifying individuals will be eligible to earn up to 54 days of GCT time for each year of the sentence imposed by the court."
In accordance with federal law, the Bureau of Prisons "continues to pro-rate the amount of GCT earned for the final year of service of the sentence," the spokesman said.
Just before he reported to the federal Maryland lockup, Salame turned to LinkedIn to share a life update.
"I'm happy to share that I'm starting a new position as Inmate at FCI Cumberland," Salame posted at the time.
He later updated his LinkedIn profile headline to read, "Camper Librarian at FCI Cumberland / Previously Co - CEO FDM (FTX Digital Markets)."
In a profile description under "Inmate / Camper Librarian," Salame wrote: "Incarcerated; manually implemented Dewey Decimal System with no internet access; trained Navy Seal style training daily 2+ hours with no water; honed chess, ping pong, yoga and spades skills; began pursuit of reading every presidential biography; learned to cook plethora of meals with 190 degree water and an iron; taught cryptocurrency courses to fellow campers; never screwed up a daily count."
Salame pleaded guilty last year to conspiracy to make illegal campaign contributions totaling tens of millions of dollars and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.
He was one of four top executives within Bankman-Fried's business empire to plead guilty. Among those former executives was Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried's ex-girlfriend and the CEO of his Alameda Research cryptocurrency hedge fund.
Ellison was sentenced to two years in prison in September after she previously pleaded guilty to conspiring with Bankman-Fried in the $11 billion fraud scheme.
As BI recently reported, it appears Ellison also had some time shaved from her scheduled release from prison.
Earlier this year, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison after a jury found him guilty of all seven counts of fraud and conspiracy.
He remains behind bars at the infamous Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as he appeals his conviction.