Months after his guilty plea, former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame learned he would likely spend over seven years in federal prison for two felony charges.

On May 28, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan considered sentencing recommendations from Salame’s legal team and prosecutors, ultimately sentencing Salame to 90 months in prison. This was longer than the prosecutors' recommendation of up to seven years and significantly more than the 18 months requested by Salame’s lawyers.

Salame, in his first post on X since November 2022, hinted at upcoming developments without directly mentioning his sentencing, and emphasized he had no plans to flee the country, citing family importance. A court filing from May 14 revealed that Salame had a child with his partner, Michelle Bond, in November 2023.

According to Mark Bini, an attorney at Reed Smith, the 90-month sentence reflected Judge Kaplan’s serious view of the fraud at FTX, including Salame’s involvement in a multi-million dollar campaign finance fraud scheme. Salame’s attempts to show cooperation by producing documents were not seen as mitigating by the judge.

Recently, two other prominent cryptocurrency executives received prison sentences. Judges overseeing the cases of Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao handed down shorter sentences than prosecutors recommended—25 years instead of up to 50 for SBF, and four months instead of 36 for CZ.

Other FTX and Alameda Research figures, including former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh, and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, have also pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors. Their sentencing status remains unclear.

Salame’s case uniquely involved campaign finance law violations during an election year, potentially influencing Judge Kaplan’s decision to impose a harsher sentence. U.S. Attorney Damian Williams highlighted Salame’s “unlawful political influence campaign” which damaged public trust in American elections.

Sunil Kavuri, a U.K. national who testified at Bankman-Fried’s trial, suggested on X that Judge Kaplan considered the impact on FTX victims in Salame’s sentencing. Before SBF’s sentencing, prosecutors presented hundreds of statements from individuals affected by the crypto exchange’s collapse.

Bankman-Fried is currently in a federal facility in Oklahoma, awaiting transfer to a California prison. Zhao, sentenced on April 30, has not yet reported to a facility in Oregon or Washington.