- Ryan Salame received $87M in compensation via Alameda
- He donated $23M+ in Republican midterm election campaigns
The FBI searched the home of Ryan Salame, former FTX co-CEO, as authorities hone in on the executive’s close relationship with Sam Bankman-Fried, the New York Times reported.
Reportedly, the $4 million home in Potomac, Maryland was searched early in the morning on April 27. The purpose of the search remains unclear.
He was a top recipient of payments from Alameda
Salame, the co-CEO of FTX’s Bahamas subsidiary, was a major beneficiary of suspicious payments and loans provided to top FTX executives via Alameda Research, the now-bankrupt FTX research arm. He received $87 million in compensation, making him the fourth-biggest beneficiary.
Bankman-Fried received $2.2 billion, former engineering director Nishad Singh got $587 million, and co-founder Zixiao “Gary” Wang received $246 million.
New management trying to “claw back funds”
FTX’s new management is pursuing potential action against the beneficiaries and everyone else they transferred money to. CoinTelegraph reported that ongoing efforts were “expected to result in the further identification of assets, liabilities and transfers.”
The new management added that it was looking at various ways to “claw back the funds” from their predecessors.
Salame was the first whistleblower
Bahamian court filings from 2022 show Salame reported to the Securities Commission of the Bahamas (SCB) in November that the now-bankrupt exchange had been transferring user funds to Alameda, its sister company. According to him, the exchange’s customers had not agreed to these transfers, which were meant to cover Alameda’s financial losses.
In addition, he told the SCB that only Bankman-Fried, Wang and Singh had the level of access required to transfer customer funds to Alameda.
Salame donated $23M to Republicans in midterm elections
According to data of Open Secrets, a government donation tracking service, Salame was a leading donor in the 2022 midterm elections. He made over 200 separate donations to Republican campaigns, worth more than $23 million in total.
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