US prosecutors deny pressuring FTX executives to plead guilty

Jinse Finance reported that Danielle Sassoon, one of the U.S. prosecutors who helped convict former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, testified on Thursday at an evidentiary hearing related to the plea agreement of former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame. The hearing was held at the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, with the core issue being whether the prosecution had improperly influenced Salame’s plea—which ultimately impacted the criminal case against his former partner Michelle Bond. Previously, Salame was sentenced to more than seven years in prison after pleading guilty to campaign finance violations and operating an unlicensed money transmitting business. His plea became a focal point for Bond’s legal team, which claimed that the prosecution “induced” Salame to cooperate with the investigation, unfairly exposing Bond to criminal charges. Sassoon denied this claim. Reportedly, Sassoon testified that if Salame pleaded guilty, her team “might not continue to investigate [Salame’s] conduct,” but she emphasized that the government did not mislead Salame about possible outcomes. “My job is not to entrap people into pleading guilty,” she said.