The FBI conducted a search Thursday morning in Potomac, Maryland, home of Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive who was a major campaign contributor for Republican political candidates, two people with knowledge of the matter said.
Mr. Salame, who ran FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary, was part of the close circle of advisors around cryptocurrency exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried before the company filed for bankruptcy in November.
Federal prosecutors have charged Mr. Bankman-Fried accused of orchestrating a massive fraud and illegal campaign financing at FTX. He has promised to fight the charges. Three of his former top executives have pleaded guilty in connection with the investigation and have agreed to cooperate against their former boss.
Mr. Salame has come under scrutiny for $24 million in campaign contributions he made during last year’s midterm elections. In lawsuits, federal authorities have alleged that most of the $90 million contributed to political candidates by a handful of former FTX employees, including Mr. Salame, was embezzled by clients of the exchange.
The search of Mr Salame’s $4 million home indicates that federal authorities are not yet done with their investigation into the collapse of FTX as they prepare for Mr Bankman-Fried’s trial in October. They investigate a range of employees and advisers in the former crypto tycoon’s job, including Mr. Bankman-Fried’s younger brother.
Jason Linder, a lawyer for Mr Salame, did not respond to a request for comment.
An FBI spokeswoman declined to comment.
It’s unclear what authorities were looking for during the search, which took place around 7 a.m., according to one person who sent a photo of FBI agents gathered outside the home to The New York Times.
Born in Sandisfield, Massachusetts, a city in the Berkshires, Mr. Salame worked for EY, the global accounting and consulting firm better known as Ernst & Young, before joining Mr. Bankman-Fried at Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund that was based in Hong Kong.
He quickly became one of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s most loyal and trusted lieutenants. After FTX moved to the Bahamas in 2021, Mr. Salame acted as an intermediary between the company and the local government, and was named co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, the exchange’s Bahamian business entity.
Mr. Salame became immensely wealthy as the crypto market boomed and FTX reached a valuation of $32 billion. FTX bankruptcy lawyers and advisers said in March that Mr. Salame received $87 million in bonuses and loans from Alameda. He was one of six top executives to receive a total of $3.2 billion in payouts.
Mr. Salame split his time between Washington and the Bahamas, and he began dating Michelle Bond, who ran a crypto lobbying group and unsuccessfully campaigned for Congress as a Republican from Long Island. Back home in the Berkshires, Mr. Salame purchased several local restaurants, some of which struggled during the height of the pandemic, earning him a reputation as a hometown hero.
Mr. Salame and Ms. Bond also purchased the house searched Thursday, located in an exclusive suburb of Washington, D.C.
Prosecutors have said Mr Bankman-Fried orchestrated a “straw donor” scheme to avoid caps on campaign contributions, recruit executives to serve as nominees for his company and donate tens of millions of dollars to both parties.
A revised indictment against Mr Bankman-Fried recently identified Mr Salame’s donations as part of the scheme, saying the FTX founder wanted to keep his support for Republican politicians “murky”.
Emily Flasher reporting contributed.
