Ex-Congressional Candidate Charged With Illegally Using FTX Cash to Fund Failed Campaign

The U.S. Department of Justice today charged former congressional candidate Michelle Bond, the partner of former FTX executive Ryan Salame, for violating campaign finance laws.

The agency alleged on Thursday that Bond, 45, illegally funded her unsuccessful run for Congress in 2022 by taking $400,000 from FTX in what it framed as a sham consulting agreement arranged by Salame. Bond was campaigning to represent New York’s first congressional district. 

Only yesterday, Salame asked a U.S. judge to prevent the indictment of Bond—and to reconsider his own conviction.

Salame was sentenced to 90 months in prison in May for conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Federal Election Commission. He had been the CEO of FTX Digital Markets, the Bahamian subsidiary of the criminally managed crypto exchange that went bust in 2022. 

“As alleged, Michelle Bond and her co-conspirator romantic partner attempted to fund her campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives by illegally using hundreds of thousands of dollars from corporate coffers, among other sources, and then lying to Congress and others to cover it all up,” said U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, in a statement.

The charges are one count of conspiracy to cause unlawful campaign contributions; one count of causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions; one count of causing and receiving an unlawful corporate contribution; and one count of causing and receiving a conduit contribution, according to the indictment.

FTX, once one of the most recognized brands in the crypto space, unexpectedly went bankrupt in November 2022. Its co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested, charged and later jailed for fraud and criminally mismanaging the exchange. He will serve 25 years in prison. 

Edited by Ryan Ozawa.