Michelle Bond campaign finance case advances in U.S. over alleged FTX-funded House run

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Michelle Bond FTX case advances

Highlights

Manhattan federal judge George Daniels denies Michelle Bond's motion to dismiss her indictment for alleged illegal FTX-funded congressional campaign contributions.
Prosecutors allege Bond used $400,000 from a consulting agreement with FTX and additional funds wired by Ryan Salame to unlawfully finance her 2022 House campaign.
Bond faces four felony charges related to unlawful campaign financing, each carrying a maximum five-year sentence, in what may be the final FTX criminal trial.

Court rejects immunity argument

As reported by Cointelegraph, Manhattan federal judge George Daniels on Wednesday denies Bond’s bid to dismiss an indictment alleging she illegally used money from FTX to support her congressional campaign.

Daniels writes there is “no ambiguity” in the terms of Salame’s written plea agreement and says the evidence shows prosecutors did not promise Bond immunity in exchange for Salame’s guilty plea. He says all parties, including the defendants and their counsel, were aware the government had not cleared Bond when Salame entered his plea.

Bond argues that then-Manhattan U.S. Attorney Danielle Sassoon said in a 2023 meeting that, if Salame pleaded guilty, prosecutors would conclude parts of the investigation concerning Ryan Salame, though not Sam Bankman-Fried. Daniels rejects that interpretation and adds that Bond’s former lawyer, Gina Parlovecchio, testified under oath that she did not understand Sassoon’s statement as a promise at the time.

Charges add to final FTX legal fallout

Prosecutors first allege in August 2024 that after Bond launched a bid for a House seat in 2022, Salame arranged a consulting agreement between Bond and FTX under which she was paid $400,000.

The government alleges Bond then uses those funds, along with hundreds of thousands of dollars more that Salame wires to her between June and August 2022, to illegally finance her campaign. Prosecutors also claim she attempts to conceal the source of the payments and makes false statements to a congressional committee and the Federal Election Commission.

Bond faces charges of conspiring to cause unlawful political contributions, causing and receiving a straw donor contribution, and causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions and an unlawful corporate contribution. Each of the four charges carries a maximum prison term of five years, and the case could become the last criminal trial arising from FTX’s 2022 collapse, one of the crypto sector’s biggest failures.

Our earlier article on a San Diego man charged with terrorism-related offenses detailed allegations that online “humanitarian aid” fundraising for Gaza was used to route money to Hamas, including via cryptocurrency channels. We noted prosecutors say the campaign raised about $600,000 and involved attempted crypto conversions and transfers, highlighting U.S. authorities’ continued focus on tracking and prosecuting illicit financial flows.

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