Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have brought criminal charges against Michelle Bond, a cryptocurrency advocate who unsuccessfully ran for Congress in 2022.
According to an indictment unsealed Thursday, Bond had a fake consulting agreement with FTX, the notorious cryptocurrency exchange run by Sam Bankman-Fried.
Her boyfriend, Ryan Salame, was an executive at one of FTX’s affiliate companies in the Bahamas.
The $400,000 she received — along with gobs of more stolen money from FTX — fueled her congressional campaign, prosecutors say.
Bond then lied about the money in forms submitted to the House Ethics Committee, as well as the Federal Elections Commission, the indictment alleges. She told board members at her job at a trade group seeking to influence crypto policy in Congress that she never actually consulted for FTX, according to the indictment.
“BOND did not perform any services for the Exchange pursuant to the Consulting Agreement,” the indictment says.
Bond ran for US Congress as a …