Michelle Bond loses dismissal bid as FTX-linked trial nears

Michelle Bond has lost her bid to dismiss criminal charges, with a federal judge setting her trial to begin on Nov. 9 after rejecting arguments tied to her husband Ryan Salame’s plea agreement.

Summary

• A federal judge has denied Michelle Bond’s bid to dismiss campaign finance charges and scheduled her trial for Nov. 9.
• Prosecutors allege Bond and Ryan Salame used about $400,000 in FTX funds to illegally finance her 2022 congressional campaign.
• Bond’s trial is among the final criminal cases tied to FTX’s collapse, while Sam Bankman-Fried continues pursuing post-conviction legal options.

According to an order from Judge George Daniels in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bond will face trial on four campaign finance-related charges in November. The ruling came one week after the court denied her request to throw out the indictment, which argued that federal prosecutors had agreed not to charge her if Salame pleaded guilty.

The case remains one of the last criminal proceedings connected to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, which entered bankruptcy in 2022. Several former executives have already been prosecuted following the exchange’s failure.

Bond will face campaign finance charges in November

According to the August 2024 indictment, prosecutors allege that Bond and Salame illegally financed her 2022 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives in New York’s 1st Congressional District.

Prosecutors claim Salame used about $400,000 originating from FTX through what they described as a sham payment to support the campaign in violation of federal campaign finance laws.

Federal prosecutors have charged Bond with conspiracy to cause unlawful political contributions, causing and receiving a straw donor contribution, causing and accepting excessive campaign contributions, and causing and accepting an unlawful corporate contribution. Each count carries a maximum prison sentence of five years.

The indictment further alleges that Bond tried to conceal the source of the campaign money by making false statements to a congressional committee and the Federal Election Commission. Bond has pleaded not guilty, and the allegations remain accusations that must be proven in court.

Earlier filings from Bond’s legal team argued that prosecutors had broken an agreement allegedly made during Salame’s plea negotiations by later bringing charges against her. Judge Daniels rejected that argument, allowing the prosecution to proceed toward trial.

Bond unsuccessfully sought the Republican nomination for New York’s 1st Congressional District in 2022, losing the primary election to Nicholas LaLota.

Most FTX criminal cases have already concluded

Meanwhile, Salame is serving a 90-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions. After his sentencing, he attempted to withdraw his plea, arguing that prosecutors had misled him about whether Bond would face charges. He later abandoned that effort and reported to prison in October 2024, leaving the legal dispute to be addressed through Bond’s case.

Among senior FTX executives, Salame, former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, and former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison received prison sentences. Former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh and co-founder Gary Wang were sentenced to time served after cooperating with prosecutors and testifying during Bankman-Fried’s trial.

Apart from Bond’s upcoming proceedings, Bankman-Fried remains the only former FTX executive whose case was decided by a jury. He was convicted on seven felony counts and sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024.

More recently, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bankman-Fried’s appeal against his conviction and sentence. Court records leave a review by the U.S. Supreme Court or a presidential pardon as his remaining legal options. Bankman-Fried has also reportedly sought a pardon from President Donald Trump.