An FTX exec told authorities about potential illegality at the crypto exchange 2 days before its bankruptcy. Ryan Salame said customer funds were being used to cover losses at trading firm Alameda, a filing showed. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested by Bahamian authorities Monday to face fraud charges. Loading Something is loading.
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A top FTX executive helped speed up Sam Bankman-Fried’s downfall by alerting authorities in the Bahamas about potential wrongdoing at the crypto exchange just two days before its bankruptcy, a court filing shows.
FTX Bahamas co-CEO Ryan Salame told the country’s security commission that customer funds were being used to cover losses at sister trading firm Alameda Research on November 9, according to court records released Wednesday.
Salame said that Bankman-Fried, FTX co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang and engineer Nishad Singh were the only employees at the crypto group that could have transferred assets held by the exchange to Alameda.
That allegation drove the launch of the police investigation that led to Bankman-Fried’s eventual arrest by Bahamian police Monday.
Bankman-Fried is currently being held in a jail in the Bahamas and awaiting potential extradition to the US on criminal charges including wire fraud, securities fraud and money laundering.
Salame is the first FTX employee known to have cooperated with authorities to help bring down the disgraced crypto CEO. He worked for Alameda between 2019 and 2021 before joining FTX Digital Markets, the crypto exchange’s Bahamas division.
Like Democratic Party donor Bankman-Fried, Salame has high-profile political ties: his partner is failed far-right Republican congressional candidate Michelle Bond.
Bond’s congressional candidate financial disclosure report showed that she received $400,000 in consulting fees from FTX Digital Markets when unsuccessfully campaigning to represent New York’s 1st Congressional District.
Read more: FTX’s Bahamas unit paid co-CEO’s MAGA Republican congressional candidate girlfriend $400,000