Ryan Salame, a former executive of FTX, received a 7.5-year prison sentence

Former FTX executive Ryan Salame has been sentenced to 7.5 years in prison after pleading guilty last year to election fraud charges and conspiring to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business while working at Sam Bankman-Fried’s cryptocurrency exchange, U.S. federal prosecutors announced on Tuesday.

Salame, 30, was among four former high-ranking FTX managers who pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges following the company's collapse in late 2022. The others include Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang. Unlike his colleagues, Salame did not agree to testify for the prosecution in the trial of Bankman-Fried, the founder and former CEO of FTX.

Earlier this year, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing $8 billion from FTX customers. He was found guilty in November on seven fraud and conspiracy counts related to FTX’s 2022 collapse, which prosecutors have described as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.

In addition to his prison sentence, Salame was given three years of supervised release and ordered to pay over $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution, according to the prosecutors' statement on Tuesday.

“Salame’s involvement in two serious federal crimes undermined public trust in American elections and the integrity of the financial system,” said Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York.

Salame had pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions and one count of conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transmitting business.