Ryan Salame, crypto fraud convict, announces ‘new position’ on LinkedIn

Ryan Salame, a former co-CEO of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, who was sentenced to over seven years in prison for fraud, made a surprising update to his LinkedIn profile before beginning his jail sentence. Salame announced his “new position” as an inmate at the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland.
The post, which has garnered attention online, reads, “I’m happy to share that I’m starting a new position as Inmate at FCI Cumberland!”.

Ryan Salame’s LinkedIn post.

The post sparked widespread attention online, with many users expressing their surprise in the comment section. One of the users wrote, “LinkedIn was invented for this very post, and I will not be convinced otherwise”. Another user wrote, “Bro does not want any gap in resume – recruiter’s fav”.
A LinkedIn page, ‘Federal Prison Consultancy’, which says they offer support to individuals through the “intimidating process of being arrested”, responded to the post, saying, “Ryan Salame you will be back soon, use this time to do things you never made time for”.
Salame was arrested along with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried and other company executives. In September 2023, he pleaded guilty to making tens of millions of dollars in illegal campaign contributions to US politicians and engaging in a criminal conspiracy to operate an unlicensed money transfer business.
According to the US Attorney’s office, while working at FTX, Salame conspired with Bankman-Fried and other FTX employees, as well as employees of the crypto trading firm Alameda Research, to operate an unlicensed money-transmitting business. They transmitted FTX customer funds without a licence and made false statements to US banks to maintain their unlawful operations.
Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison and was due to report to a federal correctional institution in Cumberland in Maryland on Friday.