A former lead prosecutor in the FTX case has denied she ever promised not to charge Michelle Bond, the ex-partner of FTX executive Ryan Salame, in a dispute that could shape the final chapter of the exchange’s criminal clean-up.
Ex-FTX Prosecutor Denies Immunity 'Secret Deal' in Michelle Bond Hearing
21 November 2025 - 12:55 CET
By Matt Neill
The ‘no immunity’ dispute
At an evidentiary hearing in the Southern District of New York, former US Attorney Danielle Sassoon told the court she never offered Bond immunity in exchange for Salame’s guilty plea, according to reports from Inner City Press.
Sassoon acknowledged telling Salame’s team that prosecutors would “probably not continue to investigate [his] conduct” if he pled guilty, but insisted that any assurances were strictly limited to the "four corners" of the written plea deal.
Bond, who faces campaign finance charges tied to roughly $400,000 in FTX-linked funds allegedly routed into her unsuccessful 2022 congressional campaign, is seeking to have the case thrown out because prosecutors induced Salame’s plea with assurances she would not be charged.
Bond has pleaded not guilty to multiple counts, including conspiracy to cause unlawful campaign contributions and causing and receiving excessive, corporate and conduit donations. Her lawyers argued that bringing charges after Salame’s plea amounts to a bait-and-switch on a supposed non-prosecution understanding.
Sassoon pushed back hard on that characterisation, telling the court she is “not in the business of gotcha or tricking people into pleading guilty”. A ruling on Bond’s dismissal motion will determine whether one of the last remaining criminal cases tied to the FTX inner circle goes to trial or quietly disappears.
Where the FTX case stands
Nearly three years after FTX’s November 2022 collapse, most of the key executives are already behind bars or have been sentenced.
Salame, who was CEO of Bahamas-based FTX Digital Markets, reported for a seven-and-a-half-year sentence in October 2024, while former Alameda Research chief executive Caroline Ellison began serving a two-year term the following month. Nishad Singh and Gary Wang, two other senior insiders who cooperated with prosecutors, received sentences of time served.
Sam Bankman-Fried remains the central figure in the saga. The former FTX chief has been jailed since August 2023, when his bail was revoked over alleged witness tampering. He is now serving a 25-year federal sentence after being convicted of fraud and conspiracy.
His legal team returned to court on 4 Nov to appeal both the conviction and sentence, arguing he was “never presumed innocent” at trial and was blocked from presenting evidence about FTX’s supposed solvency.
Outside the courtroom, speculation over a possible presidential pardon has intensified after President Donald Trump granted clemency to former Binance chief Changpeng “CZ” Zhao last month, with prediction markets recently putting Bankman-Fried’s odds in the low single digits.
