Were Ryan Salame and Michelle Bond's crypto and political ambitions too much to handle? Could they have avoided the scandal or was the collapse inevitable?
When ambition and greed meet
Ryan Salame and Michelle Bond were once the epitome of a power couple: wealthy, influential, and deeply embedded in Washington politics and the crypto world.
As FTX's top official, Salame had the ear of a powerful Republican whose millions support the Republican cause. Bond, a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney, has ambitions of running for Congress and has stood out as a prominent cryptocurrency policy advocate.
They seemed unstoppable until November 2022 when FTX collapsed and the world came crashing down.
Now both men are in prison, and their once glamorous lives have unraveled into a tangled web of legal battles, accusations, and public shame.
But how exactly did it happen?
beginning of the end
To understand the collapse of Salameh and Bond, we have to start with the collapse of FTX.
In November 2022, cryptocurrency exchange FTX, once worth more than $32 billion, collapsed after it was revealed that billions of customer funds were missing.
Its founder, Sam Bankman Freed, orchestrated one of the most devastating financial frauds in U.S. history. However, the impact of FTX's decline was not limited to Bankman Fried.
As investigators dug deeper, prosecutors uncovered a complex web of political contributions, illegal financial transactions, and campaign finance violations, and Salameh and Bond were right in the middle of it.
As CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Mr. Salameh played a key role in the company's political activities. He poured millions of dollars into Republican campaigns, making him one of the most conservative donors in the country.
It was later revealed that his political contributions totaled more than $22 million, much of which was illegally sourced from FTX's coffers. Salameh’s donation was part of a broader strategy to gain political influence and push for crypto-friendly policies.
But by August 2023, the game was over. Faced with mounting evidence, Mr. Salameh pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and operating an unauthorized money transfer business.
His actions turned out to be a far cry from the exorbitant political donations he once claimed. He funneled funds through FTX to make large donations in his own name, violating multiple U.S. laws in the process.
Judge Louis A. Kaplan, who sentenced Salame to seven and a half years in prison in May 2024, called his actions “astonishing” and emphasized how they undermined faith in the American political system. .
political dreams failed
Michelle Bond's story follows a parallel path to Salameh's, but with its own twist.
Mr. Bond, a former SEC attorney, served as CEO of the Digital Asset Market Association and established himself as an expert on crypto policy. And her voice carried weight in Washington.
But like Salameh, Bond had ambitions that went beyond policy. In 2022, she ran in an ambitious Congressional race to represent New York's 1st Congressional District.
With endorsements from politicians like Donald Trump Jr. and financial support from her partner Salameh, Bond's campaign was aimed at thrusting her into the political spotlight. But cracks were already beginning to form beneath the surface.
Although Bond publicly portrayed himself as a self-funded candidate, the reality was far more complex. Federal prosecutors later revealed that much of the money supporting her campaign (more than $1.5 million) was not her own but came from FTX via Salame.
According to court documents, Bond received hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign contributions from Salameh, which prosecutors allege were illegally sourced from FTX.
In August 2024, Bond was indicted on multiple counts of campaign finance violations, marking the beginning of her legal downfall.
The indictment detailed how Bond allegedly funneled funds through consulting contracts and personal payments while appearing to comply with campaign finance laws.
She was once the face of crypto regulation in Washington, but now her career is in ruins. Even after she resigned as ADAM's CEO, the stigma of the scandal continued to haunt her.
Her crypto-fueled Congressional campaign failed, with Bond receiving only 27% of the vote in the Republican primary.
But her problems extended beyond politics, and the legal implications became impossible to ignore.
One text exchange between Bond and Salame, used as evidence in court, revealed a damning picture of their financial dealings.
In February 2022, Bond thanked Salameh for paying his consulting firm's bills, to which he responded, “If you're grateful for that, then why don't you pay for the expenses that you're actually running?'' I would be able to get less than 3 loves.
However, their love didn't last long as their legal problems worsened.
The breakup of a power couple
Beyond the courtroom drama, Salameh and Bond's personal lives unraveled just as quickly. The couple had children and lived in a $4 million home in Potomac, Maryland, which was a symbol of their success.
But after Salameh's guilty plea, the house will be sold and the proceeds will be used to pay compensation to FTX's defrauded customers.
Salame argued that his guilty plea was part of a “tacit bargain” with prosecutors, suggesting that if he cooperated, prosecutors would remove Bond from the investigation. However, federal prosecutors denied this and indicted Bonds anyway in August 2024.
In a revealing interview, Salameh admitted that his involvement in FTX did more harm than good to Bond. “Having a relationship with me would be a problem,” he said. “It wasn't great for her to have me in her life.”
Salame's regret came too late. His sentence was scheduled to begin in October 2024 at a federal correctional facility in Maryland.
But Salameh hasn't given up yet. He is pinning his last hope on a presidential pardon and counting on a Republican victory in the 2024 US elections to set him free.
In a candid interview, Salame hinted that Donald Trump has the best chance given his past political donations. “I would be even more shocked if Harris admitted it for political reasons,” Salameh said, referring to Democratic candidate Kamala Harris.
But whether or not a pardon is in his future, Salameh's reputation has already been permanently tarnished.
As Salame prepares to go to prison, Bond faces the possibility of a prison sentence himself depending on the outcome of the trial. But despite looming legal challenges, Michelle Bond hasn't given up on her crypto ambitions.
In June 2024, Mr. Bond announced the creation of a think tank called Digital Future, which will aim to develop regulatory policy around digital assets and artificial intelligence.
Bond said the think tank will advocate for favorable regulations for an industry still reeling from the fallout from the FTX collapse.
However, Bond's announcement was met with skepticism. Her indictment arrived just two months after Digital Future's launch, leading many to question whether she could be trusted to lead the think tank while it was under federal investigation.
Their story isn't over yet, but their fall from grace will likely be remembered for years to come. It's a reminder of how ambition, greed, and a little bit of cryptocurrency can turn even a bright future out of control.
