Overview
- A federal judge denied Michelle Bond’s motion to dismiss the campaign finance indictment and scheduled her trial to start on November 9, 2026.
- Prosecutors allege Bond and Ryan Salame used about $400,000 that originated at FTX and was routed through a sham payment to fund Bond’s 2022 House campaign.
- Bond faces four counts — conspiracy to cause unlawful political contributions, straw-donor schemes, excessive contributions, and unlawful corporate contributions — each carrying up to five years in prison, and she has pleaded not guilty.
- The court rejected Bond’s argument that prosecutors promised not to charge her during Salame’s plea talks; Salame pleaded guilty to making unlawful political contributions, tried and abandoned an effort to withdraw his plea, and is serving a 90-month sentence.
- The case is one of the remaining criminal matters from FTX’s 2022 collapse and could shape how prosecutors use cooperator agreements and how regulators and Congress investigate crypto-linked campaign financing.