FTX’s Ryan Salame's Crazy LinkedIn Update: “New Position as Inmate”

Friday, 11/10/2024 | 06:30 GMT by Arnab Shome

Salame was sentenced to seven and a half years in prison for his white-collar crimes linked to FTX.

Although posted as a joke, his LinkedIn post grabbed the attention of the internet.

A screenshot of a LinkedIn post by Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX

Social media updates about personal and professional lives have become common nowadays, but sometimes, some posts attract attention because they are unhinged. Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX, made such an absurd post on LinkedIn, updating on his “new position as Inmate at FCI Cumberland.”

The Craziest LinkedIn Post

Salame, once a high-ranking executive at the now-bankrupt FTX, was sentenced in May to seven and a half years in prison for fraud charges and conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Unlike Sam Bankman-Fried, the infamous founder of FTX, Salame is one of four former top FTX managers who pleaded guilty to the criminal charges brought against them by US prosecutors. However, he did not join Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang in testifying against Bankman-Fried.

The nature of his latest LinkedIn post has been highlighted by many as the craziest update on the professional networking platform. Despite the unhinged nature of the post, it is being taken as a joke.

An Associate of Bankman-Fried

Salame became an associate of Bankman-Fried when he joined the Hong Kong offices of Alameda Research as the Head of OTC for APAC in late 2019. After a couple of years, he moved to The Bahamas to become the co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, according to his LinkedIn profile.

He started his career at Ernst & Young and then moved to Circle, a stablecoin issuer, spending a couple of years at its crypto OTC trading desk.

A screenshot of Ryan Salame's professional roles he added on LinkedIn

While Salame is facing seven and a half years in prison, Ellison, who is also the former girlfriend of Bankman-Fried, was sentenced to two years of imprisonment. Singh and Wang will receive their sentencing later this month.

Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried was imprisoned for 25 years after a high-profile jury trial. Last month, his legal representatives formally appealed his conviction and requested a new trial. The 102-page appeal also accused Judge Lewis Kaplan of being unfairly biased in the previous trial.