By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Multiple Bahamians have praised the good character of FTX’s former local head in supporting his plea that he receive a jail term “of no more than 18 months” for violating US law.

An ex-attorney general, local aviation entrepreneur and former Bahamian staff have all supplied glowing testimonies on Ryan Salame, the ex-FTX Digital Markets chief, who is due to be sentenced by the southern New York federal court on May 28, 2024, for breaches of US campaign finance laws and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.

Ceri Howells, CLX Logistics Bahamas’ chief operations officer, even told Judge Lewis Kaplan how Mr Salame helped him rebuild his life following the twin blows of Hurricane Dorian’s devastation and his father’s critical illness. The FTX Digital Markets’ chief’s support, he revealed, gave him the platform to invest “my last $200” in setting up CLX Logistics which has grown into “a thriving enterprise”.

“I first met Ryan during one of the most challenging periods of my life,” Mr Howells wrote. “It was shortly after Hurricane Dorian had devastated our area, leaving me with nothing. Around the same time, my father was critically ill in Nassau. I had to make the painful choice to quit my job and move to be with my father, as my employer at the time showed no flexibility or understanding of my dire situation.

“When I was introduced to Ryan, I was struggling to rebuild my life while supporting my dying father. Ryan, after hearing my story, offered not just sympathy but provided me with an opportunity that proved to be the turning point. He trusted me to handle some shipping tasks for his business, an opportunity that allowed me to stand on my own feet again.

“Thanks to Ryan’s support, I used my last $200 to secure a Business Licence and begin shipping under my own name. Now, that business has now grown into a thriving enterprise. It’s no lie to say this opportunity changed my life, while also creating employment for many others in our community.”

Mr Salame’s attorneys, in late Tuesday legal filings that called for as light a sentence as possible, argued that the FTX Digital Markets chief was not part of the “innermost circle” surrounding the crypto exchange’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried. They asserted their client was “duped” - along with thousands of FTX customers - into believing the enterprise was “legitimate, solvent and wildly profitable”.

“Indeed, when he finally understood the FTX fraud, he was the first person to blow the whistle to authorities in The Bahamas who regulated FTX Digital Markets, FTX’s Bahamian subsidiary Ryan headed,” Mr Salame’s sentencing submissions stated.

“Ryan contacted the Securities Commission of the Bahamas, FTX Digital Markets’ regulator, as soon as he learned about the fraud that Bankman-Fried and others had committed. Ryan contacted the Securities Commission to alert them to the fact that ‘assets which may have been held with FTX Digital were transferred to Alameda Research’, and that ‘such transfers were not allowed and therefore may constitute misappropriation, theft, fraud or some other crime’.

“Ryan further informed the Securities Commission that the only three people who had the necessary codes or passwords to transfer clients’ assets were Bankman- Fried, Nishad Singh and Gary Wang. This information appears to have initiated the Bahamian investigation into FTX and those three individuals.”

The November 10, 2022, affidavit by Christina Rolle, the Securities Commission’s executive director, attesting to these events and Mr Salame’s ‘whistleblower’ co-operation is attached to the sentencing submissions but it remains to be seen how much this sways Judge Kaplan.

Also supplying a character reference on Mr Salame’s behalf was Allyson Maynard-Gibson KC, the former attorney general and Cabinet minister, whose law firm represented FTX’s Bahamian interests during the 18 months immediately prior to its November 2022 collapse.

She was joined by David Dingman, the principal behind a Lyford Cay condominium project that aroused significant opposition from the surrounding community when it sought to obtain the necessary planning permissions. There was widespread speculation, none of which could be proven or confirmed, that the project was targeted at providing accommodation for FTX’s expatriate workforce.

“Our law firm advised FTX for its registration in The Bahamas and other matters for which it sought legal advice from non in-house counsel,” Mrs Maynard-Gibson told Judge Kaplan in a May 3, 2024, letter. “I was in charge of the FTX matter.

“This gave me the pleasure of working with Ryan for almost two years while he lived and worked in The Bahamas. In all of my dealings with him I found him to be straightforward, honest and meticulous in his dealings with others and about compliance with the law.

“I also found him to be a kind and generous man with deep concern for his team members and for those in need. He personally visited several soup kitchens and ensured that they were able to feed the hungry and clothe children and the elderly, for whom he was especially concerned.”

Mrs Maynard-Gibson, confirming she chairs the University of The Bahamas’ board of trustees, added that Mr Salame was also “committed to ensuring that training and micro-credentialing opportunities be provided for young people to find employment in the technology sector”.

Mr Dingman, meanwhile, told Judge Kaplan: “I have never had any business dealings with FTX, and I have no personal knowledge of his business illegality. In that regard, I hope and trust that this illegality was isolated and out of character for him..

“Rather, I got to know Ryan on a personal level during his time in The Bahamas, and where I got to know him well and observe him closely. During his time in The Bahamas, Ryan Salame demonstrated a genuine and substantial commitment to charitable causes, and he showed kindness and compassion towards those less fortunate and who were in need of help.”

Valdez Russell, FTX’s former Bahamian spokesperson, told Judge Kaplan that Mr Salame was sometimes “prone to trusting too quickly” - something that at least one other character reference mentioned. “As my supervisor during our endeavours with FTX in The Bahamas, I witnessed first-hand his innate ability to lead, mentor and consult with a level of wisdom far beyond his years,” Mr Russell added.

Paul Aranha, the Bahamian aviation entrepreneur whose firm in March secured a $2m settlement with the US Justice Department and FTX’s US chief to resolve the fate of the crypto exchange’s two aircraft, said Mr Salame had worked on plans to both monetise this nation’s carbon sinks - and protect its seagrass and mangroves - via carbon credits.

Describing himself as “an FTX creditor and victim of Samuel Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) fraud,” the Trans-Island Airways president wrote: “In my private aviation career, I have interacted with thousands of clients. Even among the most considerate, respectful and kind in that group, Ryan stood out as by far the warmest, most generous, friendliest and most caring.

“The first time we met, I was hired to pilot him from Nassau to New York. The trip began with a Customs delay, which in turn would delay him, so our very first conversation required me to notify him of the inconvenience. Instead of the push back, complaints and aggravation I was expecting, Ryan instead invited me to sit with him and asked about my day. From that point, our friendship grew.”

Noting that the Government “had opened its doors to the world of crypto with the Digital Assets and Registered Exchanges (DARE) Act, Mr Aranha recalled how FTX’s former Bahamian head had taught himself and his employees about digital assets and crypto currency.

“Suddenly, Bitcoin, Solana and stablecoins were no longer an unintelligible quagmire that was inaccessible to regular Bahamians,” Mr Aranha said. “Of course, it is impossible to address the good that was done in The Bahamas without acknowledging the vast harms SBF perpetrated, including many that would have come to light during SBF’s second trial.

“But if there was one person whose actions serve as a counterpoint to those harms, it is Ryan, who was responsible for leading the charitable endeavours at FTX in The Bahamas and was the model of what a good corporate citizen could mean for my country.

“While I recognise that much of the funding for Ryan’s corporate responsibility flowed directly from SBF’s fraud, that should not completely overshadow Ryan’s impressive accomplishments during his short time in The Bahamas as FTX’s ambassador,” the Trans-Island chief continued.

“Ryan used his kindness and influence in the business community to address long ignored and oft-overlooked issues. When Ryan encountered a lopsided labour relations situation in The Bahamas, he made sure to fix that for FTX employees by creating a welcoming and inclusive work environment unlike anything seen before in this country.

“His company recognised that staff at all levels faced challenges associated with childcare, homemaking and mental health, amongst others, and actively created policies that allowed parents to support their children’s development, engage in their lives and get the support they needed.”

Disclosing that Mr Salame once “refused to work with a contractor until they had removed decades-old concrete that they had dropped on the road”, Mr Aranha added: “Ryan fell in love with the Bahamian culture and our environment, championing causes that would protect our spaces and promote our nation and its people.

“His work on carbon credit proposals sought to protect our seabeds and mangroves while turning them into revenue-generating spaces for our country. He spoke fondly of the tools that he was developing to enable his team to implement literacy and numeracy tutoring programmes for elementary school children.....

“Ryan lifted The Bahamas up at every conference, highlighting our talents and ability. The seeds Ryan planted in The Bahamas during his time there, although brief and now long behind him, have already grown trees whose shade he will not benefit from, but will provide a foundationally better nation for others.”