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Michelle Bond, CEO of Digital Futures. 

CNBC

Convicted former FTX executive Ryan Salame‘s domestic partner Michelle Bond has been indicted in New York on federal charges accusing her of conspiring to raise unlawful campaign contributions from FTX for her unsuccessful run for Congress in 2022, prosecutors announced Thursday.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams claims that Bond, 45, illegally funded her campaign with a “sham” $400,000 upfront payment from FTX, followed by a $100,000 annual payment from that now-bankrupt crypto exchange.

Bond, who lives in Potomac, Maryland, was running for a House seat in New York’s first congressional district, which includes eastern Long Island.

The four-count indictment was unsealed a day after Salame, the father of Bond’s eight-month-old child, asked a New York federal judge to void his guilty plea to campaign finance and money-transmitting crimes.

Salame’s lawyers claim prosecutors reneged on an agreement to drop their campaign finance probe of Bond as an incentive to get him to plead guilty.

Bond was an attorney based in or near Washington who, “at all times relevant to the indictment,” worked as the CEO of a digital assets trade group, the indictment says. In June, Bond also announced the launch of Digital Future, a think tank “dedicated to promoting the development of the next generation of the financial services industry,” according to a press release.

She was released on a $1 million personal recognizance bond co-signed by another individual and was seen leaving the courthouse in lower Manhattan hand-in-hand with Salame earlier Thursday afternoon.

Ryan Salame, the former co-chief executive of FTX Digital Markets, exits the Federal Court after he pleaded guilty to two charges including conspiring to make unlawful U.S. political contributions, in New York City, Sept. 7, 2023.

Brendan McDermid | Reuters

Salame and Bond met in June 2021, and were in a relationship by early the following year, according to the indictment.

The indictment alleges that Salame, identified only as CC-1, conspired with Bond to commit the crimes, saying that Salame arranged the payment from FTX to Bond. She then allegedly used “almost entirely” all of that money “to fund her campaign illegally,” the indictment says.

Salame between June and August 2022 allegedly wired hundreds of thousands of dollars to Bond’s personal bank account, which she then also put toward illegally funding her campaign, according to the indictment.

Salame was not a cooperating witness in last year’s criminal trial of his former boss at FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced in March to 25 years in prison for fraud and conspiracy.

The charges against Salame stemmed from his involvement in a multimillion-dollar campaign finance scheme during his tenure at FTX.

Salame is due to begin serving a 7-and-a-half-year prison sentence on Oct. 13. Salame also was ordered to pay more than $6 million in forfeiture and more than $5 million in restitution.

Williams, the U.S. Attorney, separately wrote to the judge in his criminal case on Wednesday to ask that the court “reject Ryan Salame’s shameless and self-serving attempt to renege on his guilty plea in the aftermath of his sentencing.”

Judge Lewis Kaplan set a hearing for Sept. 12 to hear arguments from both sides on whether to toss out the deal Salame struck with the prosecutors.

CNBC’s Dan Mangan contributed to this report.

WATCH: Former FTX investor weighs in on SBF sentencing

Former FTX investor weighs in on SBF sentencing, FTX and crypto outlook

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The US wind industry’s 5-year outlook is now a total roller-coaster

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The US wind industry's 5-year outlook is now a total roller-coaster

The US wind industry installed just 5.2 gigawatts (GW) in 2024 – the lowest level in a decade, according to Wood Mackenzie’s new US Wind Energy Monitor report. Installations are expected to rebound in 2025, but the real concern lies in US wind’s sharply downgraded 5-year outlook. As for the reason behind that bleak forecast, we’ll give you one guess as to why, and it starts with a T.

Wood Mac reports that 3.9 GW of onshore wind came online last year, along with 1.3 GW of onshore repowers and 101 megawatts (MW) of offshore wind.

Onshore wind

The US is expected to achieve more than 160 GW of installed onshore capacity by 2025, and onshore growth is projected to bounce back from 2024 and surpass 6.3 GW this year.

“The cliff in 2023 and 2024 created by the Production Tax Credit (PTC) push in 2022 will come to an end,” said Stephen Maldonado, research analyst at Wood Mackenzie. “Despite the uncertainty created by the new administration, the massive number of orders placed in 2023 culminating in projects now under construction support the short-term forecast.”

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The pipeline for onshore has 10.8 GW currently under construction through 2027, with another 3.9 GW announced.

GE Vernova led onshore wind installations in 2024 with 56% of the market and will continue to lead in connections for the next five years. It was followed by Vestas (40%) and Siemens Gamesa (4%).

Offshore wind

Offshore wind is projected to increase in 2025 as well, with 900 MW of installed capacity, up from a disappointing 101 MW in 2024. However, several projects have been shelved in the wake of Trump’s anti-wind executive orders, which downgraded the five-year outlook by 1.8 GW.

Electrek’s Take on US wind’s 5-year outlook

According to Wood Mac, 33 GW of new onshore wind capacity will be installed through 2029, along with 6.6 GW of new offshore capacity and 5.5 GW of repowers. However, due to Trump’s anti-wind policy and economic uncertainty, this five-year outlook is 40% less than a previous total of 75.8 GW. ​Growth will happen, but it’s going to be slower.

The main reason is Trump’s flourish of his Sharpie on executive orders that include “temporary” withdrawal of offshore wind leasing areas and putting a stop to onshore wind on federal lands. Plus, firing all those federal employees will likely make permitting wind farms a slower process. (Trump just wrote more executive orders today allowing coal projects on federal lands; he won’t have federal employees to issue permits for those, either.) He’s worked to throw up obstacles for wind projects in favor of fossil fuels. He won’t stop the wind industry, but he’s managed to get some projects canceled, and he’ll make things more of a slog over the next few years.

Read more: Coal is dead and Trump’s executive order won’t revive it


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BYD’s low-cost Seagull EV now starts at under $8,000 in China

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BYD's low-cost Seagull EV now starts at under ,000 in China

BYD’s cheapest EV in China just got even more affordable. After cutting prices this month, the BYD Seagull EV starts at just 56,800 yuan, or under $8,000.

BYD cuts Seagull EV price to under $8,000 in April

Despite an intensifying EV price war in China, BYD is cutting prices once again. The Chinese EV giant announced a new promotion this month across several Ocean Series models, including the Seagull.

The 2025 BYD Seagull EV is available starting at just 56,800 yuan ($7,800). The offer is for the non-Smart Driving Vitality Edition model, which usually starts at 69,800 yuan ($9,500).

After launching the new Seagull last year, BYD said the low-cost electric car officially opened “a new era of electricity being lower than oil.” Earlier this year, it upgraded most of its vehicles, including the Seagull, with its new “God’s Eye” smart driving system at no extra charge.

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BYD’s Seagull is offered in three trims in China: Vitality, Freedom, and Flying. It has two battery options, 30.1 kWh or 38.9 kWh, which is good for the 305 km (190 mi) and 405 km (252 mi) CLTC range, respectively.

BYD-seagull-EV-$8,000
BYD cuts vehicle prices in April 2025, including the Seagull EV (Source: BYD)

At just 3,780 mm long, 1,715 mm wide, and 1,540 mm tall, the Seagull is even smaller than the former Chevy Bolt EV (4,145 mm long, 1,765 mm wide, and 1,611 mm tall). It’s about the size of a Fiat 500e.

BYD-Seagull-EV-$8,000
BYD Seagull EV (Dolphin Mini) testing in Brazil (Source: BYD)

The price cut comes as BYD’s sales continue surging. With another 377,420 new energy vehicles (EVs and PHEVs) sold last month, the Chinese automaker has now sold over one million NEVs in 2025.

BYD’s EVs accounted for 416,388 while PHEV sales reached 569,710, an increase of 39% and 76% from last year, respectively.

BYD Seagull EV trim Starting Price Range
(CLTC)
Vitality Normal: $9,500 (69,800 yuan)
Now: $8,000 (56,800 yuan)
190 mi
(305 km)
Freedom $10,300 (75,800 yuan) 190 mi
(305 km)
Flying $11,700 (85,800 yuan) 252 mi
(405 km)
BYD Seagull EV prices and range by trim in China

Perhaps even more importantly, BYD sold over 206,000 vehicles overseas in 2025, more than doubling from last year. The Seagull EV is also sold in other global markets like Mexico and Brazil as the Dolphin Mini.

Later this year, it will launch in Europe as the Dolphin Surf, with expected prices starting under £20,000 ($26,000). Although it may not be the cheapest EV, BYD’s executive vice president, Stella Li, recently told Autocar it will be “the best value” when it arrives.

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Tesla already has new Model Y inventory available today in the US – demand is terrible

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Tesla already has new Model Y inventory available today in the US – demand is terrible

Tesla has new Model Y inventory available today in the US, just days after opening orders for what is supposed to be its most popular model.

This proves that demand is terrible and Tesla is trying to hide it.

On Friday, Tesla launched the new non-Launch Edition Model Y in North America.

Prior to the launch, only a fully loaded $60,000 Launch Edition Model Y was available to order since January, and had been delivered since early March.

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Now, North American buyers are able to buy a much cheaper version of the new Model Y for $49,000.

Only the Model Y Long Range AWD is available for now, but that’s Tesla’s most popular model in North America.

At the time, we noted that this is a great demand test for Tesla in the US amid some critical brand issues due to CEO Elon Musk.

We only have a few metrics to track the demand of the new Model Y in the US:

  • Delivery timelines on new orders
  • Available inventory
  • Discounts/incentives

For most US zip codes tested by Electrek with different Model Y configurations (wheels and paint colors), Tesla quotes delivery within “1-3 weeks”.

But we also found several zip codes on both the West Coast and the East Coast where Tesla claims it can deliver the new vehicle “today”:

This would point to Tesla already having vehicles in inventory despite launching it just 4 days ago.

But Tesla is hiding the inventory.

If you search for Model Y in Tesla’s new inventory, you can’t find any in the US at the time of writing:

However, Tesla is showing some units in inventory to people configuring new Model Ys.

Some potential buyers are reporting that Tesla has a tab that pops up and directs them to some new inventory available (via TroyTeslike on Patreon):

This confirms that Tesla already has new non-Launch Edition Model Y in inventory available for sale in the US – pointing to Tesla having no backlog of demand for the new vehicle.

Electrek’s Take

This is much worse than I thought. I thought that Tesla would build a backlog of demand for the new Model Y in the US from people who didn’t want the fully loaded version, but it looks like that backlog lasted 4 days.

Of course, it’s all because of Tesla and Elon, and brand destruction.

Many people who invested in the stock market lost a lot of money over the last few weeks, and these people often happen to be people who buy new cars.

Now, the only thing left is for Tesla to start offering discounts and subsidies financing – the latter likely coming first, as it is already the case with new Model 3 orders in the US.

The good news for Tesla is that if Trump continues to crash the stock market, the Fed will likely have to reduce rates, making Tesla’s 0% financing cheaper to subsidize.

That’s a fun balancing act.

Either way, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tesla offer incentives on the new Model Y in the US within the next 2 weeks – way ahead of schedule.

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