Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, said the US government unfairly targeted him for his support of the Republican Party.

Salame appeared on the Tucker Carlson Show, which aired on October 10, and revealed that the former FTX executive had requested to postpone the surrender date by approximately two months for medical reasons.

Speaking to Carlson, Salame claimed he was falsely accused of “campaign finance violations” for donating to the Republican Party. He emphasized that his convicted colleagues, such as former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, were never charged with similar violations as those who “helped get Biden elected”:

“Correct me if I’m wrong here. You have Sam Bankman-Fried, who was in prison for a long time, but he wasn’t charged with campaign finance violations. He gave it to the Democrats.”

Salame is not facing any charges related to the FTX crypto exchange crash. Instead, he faces campaign finance violations related to borrowing money from Alameda Research for political contributions.

Salame said he has donated between $20 million and $30 million to Republican candidates. Salame’s lawyers had previously informed him that the debtor funds he donated were legal.

However, he was accused of orchestrating a “straw donor” scheme by illegally using another person’s money to make political contributions on their behalf. He also questioned the validity of the second charge against him of operating without a money transfer licence.

Salame noted that Bankman-Fried donated approximately $60 million to $70 million to Democratic candidates during the 2020 election cycle.

Salame claimed that he was forced to plead guilty by federal prosecutors who threatened to investigate the mother of his child:

“They told me that if I pleaded guilty to these two charges, they would not investigate my loved ones and would not investigate anything they did or investigated.” Salame admitted to the charges on the condition that authorities would not involve his family in investigations. However, he claimed that the government broke this agreement:

“Because the government has now continued to pursue the mother of my child even though they said they would not investigate them if I pled guilty. So I will use that in my attempt at an appeal.”

In contrast, Salame emphasized that Bankman-Fried’s family members did not face legal consequences despite their relationship with the convicted entrepreneur.

Salame has spent nearly $6 million in legal fees and has been critical of the American justice system, expressing his belief that it prioritizes convictions over the truth. On October 9, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison agreed with FTX to turn over “a significant portion of her assets” to resolve the lawsuit.

In a petition filed Oct. 7, Ellison agreed to turn over assets to FTX creditors if the government does not use any assets not seized in the criminal case or legal costs.

The petition states that once he meets the requirements, “Ellison will have no other assets, other than certain physical personal property,” but does not specify the value of the assets he will dispose of.