# Michelle Bond **Michelle Bond** is a crypto-industry trade association executive and former SEC and congressional staffer who ran for the **Republican nomination in New York's 1st Congressional District in 2022**, losing the primary to Nicholas LaLota. She is married to **[[Ryan Salame]]**, the [[FTX]] executive who served as the exchange's Republican-side political money conduit. In **August 2024** she was indicted on four campaign-finance counts: conspiracy to cause unlawful political contributions, causing and receiving a straw-donor contribution, causing and accepting excessive contributions, and causing and accepting an unlawful corporate contribution. Prosecutors allege roughly **$400,000 in FTX money** financed her campaign and that she made false statements to conceal its source. She has pleaded not guilty. Judge George Daniels **denied her motion to dismiss on June 24, 2026**, and trial is set for **November 9, 2026**. Her case is the cleanest available illustration of the [[Crypto-Political Machine]] closing the loop: industry money not merely lobbying Congress but attempting to **seat one of its own lobbyists in it**, financed with customer deposits from the exchange her husband ran. ## Cross-references - Spouse and funding channel: [[Ryan Salame]] - Source of funds: [[FTX]], [[Sam Bankman-Fried]] - Mechanism: [[Crypto-Political Machine]], [[Revolving Door]] - Chronology: [[Campaign Finance Timeline]], [[Dark Money Timeline]] > [!note] Stub > Expand: her SEC and Hill tenure, the trade-association role and its member firms, the NY-01 primary in detail, and the November 2026 trial outcome once it lands.