Former FTX Exec Ryan Salame Kicks Off Prison Stint with Bizarre LinkedIn Post

In things you only see in crypto, former FTX executive Ryan Salame took to LinkedIn to announce the beginning of his 7.5-year prison sentence.

On Oct. 10, a few days before kicking off his incarceration, the former FTX co-CEO posted, "I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as [an] inmate at FCI Cumberland." Salame added the “new position” on his LinkedIn page, with two likely roles – cleaning and whittling.

The post, which received more than 14,000 likes and over 1,200 comments, attracted its fair share of comedy. “Wow, talk about job security! They’re never letting you go,” read one reply, with another user writing “I hope that you are not limited in your (career) movements in your new place! Gosh, I swear some places feel like a prison, a dead end, if you please; you're digging and digging only to realize you were basically running in circles.”

Salame held one of the highest positions in the now-defunct crypto exchange FTX. He was charged with making illegal political donations – funneling tens of millions to both Republican and Democratic campaigns – and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business.

Before reporting for his first day at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland, Maryland today, Salame blamed Alameda’s lawyers, said prosecutors misled his attorneys and explained why he thinks Caroline Ellison is at least as guilty as Sam Bankman-Fried on an episode of Unchained.