Former FTX executive Ryan Salame has withdrawn his petition to dismiss the indictment against Michelle Bond just days before a critical court hearing.
In a letter dated Aug. 29, Salame’s legal team informed Judge Lewis A. Kaplan of the Southern District of New York that the petition was being withdrawn “without prejudice” to allow Bond to address the matter in her own legal proceedings.
Salame was sentenced to 90 months in prison in May 2024 after pleading guilty to conspiracy charges, including operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business and making unlawful political contributions.
Bond, a former congressional candidate, is accused of conspiring with Salame — her boyfriend — to finance her 2022 campaign unlawfully. She is a former candidate for New York’s 1st Congressional District and lost the Republican primary to Nicholas J. LaLota.
Claims and rebuttal
Salame’s petition, originally filed on Aug. 21, sought a writ of error coram nobis or, alternatively, a writ of audita querela. He argued that his guilty plea — entered in May as part of a deal that led to a 90-month prison sentence — was made under the false belief that prosecutors would not pursue further action against Bond.
The government’s response to Salame’s petition was unequivocal. Prosecutors labeled his claims as “demonstrably false” and insisted that the investigation into Bond’s activities was ongoing and separate from the charges he faced.
The indictment against Bond, unsealed on August 22, 2024, accuses her of conspiring with Salame to make unlawful contributions to her 2022 congressional campaign.
With Bond’s indictment now formally docketed and her case moving forward under Judge George B. Daniels, Salame has decided to step back, allowing Bond to raise the issues independently in her case.
‘Stands by the facts’
Salame’s withdrawal of the petition marks a tactical shift. His legal team emphasized that the withdrawal does not imply any change in Salame’s stance on the facts of the case.
Instead, the defense team argued that it made more sense to allow the issues raised in his petition to be litigated in Bond’s case, where they would be directly relevant.
The letter from Salame’s lawyers also criticized the government’s characterization of the petition’s motives, clarifying that it was not driven by dissatisfaction with Salame’s sentence but by the impending indictment against Bond.
The decision to withdraw the petition effectively clears the way for Bond’s case to proceed without the complications that Salame’s petition might have introduced.
