FTX's Ryan Salame Is Going to Prison. Here’s What He Has to Say - Ep. 718
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Hey, everyone. Today's interview is with Ryan Salem, the 2nd FTX executive who will be serving time. He was the head of FTX Digital Markets, which was the Bahamian entity. His part in the FTX story had to do with the campaign violations that were initially part of Sam Binkman Fried's trial, but then got severed into their own trial due to technicalities involving the agreement that the US and the Bahamas had over SPF's extradition to the US. However, that second trial never happened because the government got a sweeping conviction on all 7 charges in the first trial and so decided not to go ah
I think the way Caroline portrayed the relationship between her and Sam doesn't do justice to the fact that I think Sam was probably the least emotionally available human being on the planet. And, like, Caroline, you know, created these fantasy novels and these fantasy games around her desire for love with powerful men. And I don't wanna disparage Caroline too much. I know I've done a lot over Twitter. I actually really Yes.
You already have. Yeah.
I mean, she's already done into the process, but I really these are all actually decent human beings, and that's, like, the the challenge. You know, I met a lot of assholes in this industry. I met a lot of assholes in the world. Like, Sam, Caroline, Gary, and Nashad are fundamentally, like, good people to their core. But Caroline had some bizarre views about, like, the world and galaxies and AI and a lot of the weird EA stuff. She had an obsession with, like I mean, she reported this, so I don't feel as bad saying she had this obsession with, like, pleasing or being in the presence of powerful
Hi, everyone. Welcome to Unchained, your no hype resource for all things crypto. I'm your host, Laura Shin, author of the Cryptopians. I started covering crypto 9 years ago, and as a senior editor at Forbes, was the 1st mainstream media reporter to cover cryptocurrency full time. This is the October 11th, 2024 episode of Unchained. Polkadot is the original and leading layer 0 blockchain with over 2,000 plus developers, and the Polkadot 2 point o upgrade will be a massive accelerator for the ecosystem. Join the community at polkadot.network/ecosystem/community. FBTC is the fastest growing omni
you. Thanks for having me.
We're speaking just a few days before you're likely headed to prison for the next seven and a half years. I know you did request to stay, just literally today, the day we're recording, so we'll see what happens with that. But assuming that you do go to prison in a couple days, how are you feeling right now?
I mean, that's a big question. I don't I don't know. You know, you come I've had years now or a year and a half roughly to to start to come to terms with it. So, yeah, it's I don't know how to describe, how to feel about it, I suppose. I think mostly I feel worse for my wife, Michelle, and my child and everyone else that sort of has to deal with the the cleanup after I leave. I'm obviously not excited to go away, but, yeah, I don't that's a tough question to start off with.
Well, let's actually then go back to your life and interest before FTX. Tell us about what your life was like then.
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