In 2021, Salame transitioned from a high-ranking post at Bankman-Fried's crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, to co-CEO of FTX's Bahamian subsidiary, FTX Digital Markets. Salame spent millions on real estate and campaign donations during his tenure.

by Bahamian lawyers claims that Bankman-Fried and Salame spent $256.3 million to buy and maintain 35 properties across New Providence — real estate that Bahamian regulators wanted to retrieve in FTX's U.S. bankruptcy protection proceedings. Meanwhile, data from the that Salame gave more than $24 million to Republican candidates and causes in the 2022 election cycle.

Days before in 2022, Salame went to Bahamian authorities to tell them that the Bankman-Fried may have committed fraud by sending customer money from the crypto exchange to his other firm, Alameda Research. According to a criminal filing, Salame disclosed "possible mishandling of clients' assets" by Bankman-Fried.

It was one of the first public acknowledgments of an insider turning on Bankman-Fried, who was found more than $8 billion worth of customer cash they believed was being safely stored on the exchange.

Since then, however, , including Alameda's former CEO and SBF's ex-girlfriend, , , and FTX's ex-engineering head , all gave testimony for the prosecution that ultimately contributed to his guilty verdict in November. Salame did not take the stand during Bankman-Fried's trial.

In a statement, U.S. attorney Damian Williams said Tuesday's sentence underscored "the substantial consequences for such offenses."

"Salame's involvement in two serious federal crimes undermined public trust in American elections and the integrity of the financial system," Williams added.

Former state and federal prosecutor Mark Bini told CNBC the sentence underscored that the judge viewed the fraud at FTX, including the multi-million dollar campaign finance scheme in which Salame was directly involved, as extremely serious.

"While Salame's counsel sought to argue that his production of documents to the Government showed his cooperation and contrition, it's clear that Judge Kaplan did not view it that way," said Bini.

Salame is the first of SBF's executive team to be sentenced since the exchange filed for bankruptcy in Nov. 2022.

— CNBC's Dan Mangan contributed to this report.