Michelle Bond, a former crypto advocate and ex-lawyer for the SEC, has been indicted for accepting illegal campaign contributions during her 2022 run for Congress. The indictment reveals that a significant amount of money came from her former boyfriend, Ryan Salame, who was a senior executive at FTX.
Bond faces several counts related to improper handling and acceptance of campaign donations linked to Salame. She allegedly filed false ethics documents about where her campaign funds came from. A court clerk mentioned that Bond is set to appear before a magistrate judge in Manhattan.
Although Salame isn’t named directly in the indictment, the description fits him closely. He was the former CEO of FTX Digital Markets and is currently serving a 7.5-year sentence as part of a plea deal. His lawyers argue that his guilty plea for campaign finance violations was meant to protect Bond from prosecution. A hearing on this matter is scheduled for next month.
The indictment was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York earlier this week. Bond has recently tried to re-engage in discussions about crypto policy but declined to comment through her representative. Salame has not yet responded to inquiries sent via his lawyers.
Bond and Salame have a child together. They often appeared in public during her unsuccessful bid for a New York seat in the U.S. House of Representatives. At that time, they sought to connect with former President Donald Trump's circles. Bond even received an endorsement from Donald Trump Jr.
As a self-funded candidate, Bond was required to use her own money. She is accused of receiving several payments in 2022, with some reaching hundreds of thousands of dollars. In text messages from February 2022, Bond thanked Salame for covering a consulting invoice. He replied that her campaign expenses would earn him a lot of appreciation.
According to Federal Election Commission records, Bond’s campaign raised over $1.5 million. However, much of that money reportedly came from her or FTX, which collapsed in one of the most significant failures in the crypto industry. After allegations emerged about her financial ties to FTX, Bond resigned as CEO of the Association for Digital Asset Markets (ADAM).
Despite spending about the same amount as her Republican primary opponent and receiving around $1.3 million in advertising support from the crypto industry, Bond managed to secure less than 30% of the vote.