Ryan Salame, a former top executive at FTX, the fallen cryptocurrency exchange, plans to plead guilty in a federal court hearing on Thursday afternoon. 

Salame was in charge of FTX’s Bahamas-based subsidiary and a big-time donor to Republican politicians. Although he was being investigated for campaign finance violations, the exact charges against him remain unclear. Salame's guilty plea will make him the fourth key adviser to Bankman-Fried admitting to criminal activity since FTX crashed last November.

This series of guilty pleas among the inner circle adds weight to the prosecution's case against Bankman-Fried, who is only 31 years old. Previously, three other high-ranking members of FTX—Gary Wang, Nishad Singh, and Caroline Ellison—pleaded guilty to fraud and agreed to testify against their former boss. 

Salame's guilty plea is part of a more significant fraud case against Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX. This development could ramp up the legal troubles for Bankman-Fried, who faces his own fraud trial starting on October 3rd. Bankman-Fried maintains his innocence, having pleaded not guilty to the charges against him. 

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