Former FTX Exec Ryan Salame Shares Bizarre Prison Post

Most individuals use LinkedIn to share promotions or new profession strikes; Ryan Salame used it to announce his subsequent cease: jail.

Thursday, simply days earlier than he started his seven-and-a-half-year jail sentence, the previous co-CEO of the FTX stated posted“I’m completely happy to share that I’m beginning a brand new place as [an] inmate at FCI Cumberland.”

His darkish humor didn’t go unnoticed and LinkedIn customers showered him with ironic congratulations. One consumer joked: “Bro went from LinkedIn to LockedIn,” whereas one other consumer added: “Nicely deserved, Ryan.”

Salame, who as soon as held a high-ranking place at FTX, is now considered one of a number of executives going through dire penalties following the crypto trade’s demise.

Its authorized troubles started after FTX’s implosion in November 2022. As soon as valued at $32 billion, FTX collapsed beneath allegations of fraud and misuse of buyer funds.

The previous co-CEO of the FTX was accused of constructing unlawful political donations — funneling tens of hundreds of thousands to each Republican and Democratic campaigns — and working an unlicensed cash transmission enterprise.

Regardless of pleading responsible in a Manhattan courtroom, Salame gained a small victory: He will get to maintain his 2021 Porsche 911 Turbo S, which is valued too low for presidency seizure.

So long as the luxurious automotive stays in his possession, he should pay the $1,500 upkeep charge. The small concession stands in stark distinction to the $1.5 billion in belongings Salame forfeited for his crimes at FTX.

Salame has insisted he was “duped” by FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) into believing the corporate was steady. Nonetheless, prosecutors pointed to Salame’s withdrawal of greater than $5 million in cryptocurrency simply because the trade faltered.

Salame’s conviction is a part of the bigger fallout from FTX’s demise. Caroline Ellison, former CEO of FTX’s sister firm Alameda Analysis and key witness towards SBF, is convicted as much as two years in jail.

Ellison’s testimony was essential within the case towards Bankman-Fried, who a 25 years in jail for orchestrating one of many largest monetary frauds in historical past, stealing billions from clients to fund lavish enterprises.

Not like Gary Wang, the co-founder of Ellison and FTX, Salame didn’t testify on the FTX founder’s trial, a choice that probably contributed to his harsher sentence.

After the viral response to his LinkedIn publish, he took to Twitter (now X) to poke enjoyable: tweet: “As we speak I realized that folks nonetheless use LinkedIn.”

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair