Danielle Sassoon, one of the U.S. attorneys involved in prosecuting former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, testified Thursday in a Manhattan court amid allegations tied to a deal made with ex-FTX executive Ryan Salame. The hearing, held in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, centered on whether prosecutors had improperly induced Salame’s guilty plea — and whether Michelle Bond, his then-girlfriend, was promised that she would not be charged. Sassoon was asked about her role in Salame’s guilty plea, which resulted in a sentence of more than seven years in prison. According to court papers, her team indicated they would “probably not continue to investigate [Salame’s] conduct” if he pleaded guilty. Bond’s legal team argues that this statement effectively pressured Salame into pleading guilty so that she would avoid prosecution. Bond faces campaign finance charges related to a $400,000 payment allegedly made via FTX funds, which her attorneys describe as part of a “sham consulting agreement.” During her testimony, Sassoon struck back at the idea that she offered any sort of deal. “I’m not in the business of gotcha or tricking people into pleading guilty,” she declared. Sassoon also suggested that Salame’s lawyers used the notion of non-prosecution of Bond as a “negotiating tactic,” rather than a genuine promise. She said, “if the lawyers truly believed it was a credible claim, they would have made it directly to me.” Bond has pleaded not guilty to counts including conspiracy to make unlawful campaign contributions, receiving excessive contributions, and acting as a conduit for funds. The hearing continues to draw attention because Bond is one of the last remaining defendants connected to the criminal fallout from FTX’s collapse in November 2022. Salame, for his part, began serving his sentence in October 2024. Other former FTX executives — including Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, and Gary Wang — have also pleaded guilty; the latter two received time-served sentences. Sam Bankman-Freid, meanwhile, remains incarcerated after being convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison in August 2023. Bond’s lawyers are seeking dismissal of her charges, arguing that prosecutors improperly leveraged Salame’s plea to bring criminal liability against her.
