
The airstrip in North Canaan on West Main Street is owned by Ryan Salame, who is listed as as principal.
Photo by John Coston
Lenox restaurant and real estate entrepreneur and North Canaan airstrip owner Ryan Salame has pleaded guilty to criminal charges of conspiring to make unlawful political contributions and defraud the Federal Elections Commission.
Appearing before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan on Thursday Sept. 7, the Berkshire native agreed to give up more than $1.5 billion in assets to the U.S. government as part of the plea deal, the Reuters news agency reported. He had been co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, an FTX affiliate.
Salame, 30, was released on a $1 million bond, CNBC reported. He faces a maximum potential sentence of 10 years in prison, with sentencing set for March 6.
He will also pay $5 million to more than 1 million investors who lost a reported $8 billion as a result of the FTX implosion last November.
The fate of his Lenox restaurant and real estate holdings — worth at least $6 million — now hangs in the balance, with a group of local investors poised to try to keep the restaurants in local hands.
In addition, the small airstrip in North Canaan on West Main Street and across from the transfer station, a storied part of Northwest Corner life for decades, is owned by Triumph Airfield LLC, registered with the Secretary of State of Connecticut with Ryan Salame as principal.
Salame will have to pay $5 million to debtors of FTX and $6 million in fines to the government. He will also surrender two houses he owns in Lenox, as well as his 2021 Porche, CNBC reported.
Salame made his fortune as a bitcoin investor, cryptocurrency executive and lieutenant to disgraced and now imprisoned FTX exchange founder Sam Bankman-Fried.
He donated nearly $24 million last year to 97 Republican candidates and political action committees.
A native of Sandisfield, after attending Farmington River Elementary School in Otis, Salame graduated from Monument Mountain Regional High School in Great Barrington in 2011, four years after he began working as a dishwasher at the former Martin’s Restaurant in Great Barrington, which closed in 2016.
“He started out washing dishes when he was 14 but then he did everything,” Martin Lewis, owner of the popular restaurant, told The Eagle last year. “He was very smart and energetic. He’s just a wonderful person. A great kid.”
By 2016, Salame (pronounced SAY-lem) had graduated from the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst with a business degree in accounting and then obtained a master’s in finance at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.
With a keen interest in cryptocurrency, in 2017 he went to work for Circle Internet Financial He helped Bankman-Fried create FTX Trading Ltd. in Hong Kong before relocating to the Bahamas as co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets in September 2021.
By then, he had burst upon the downtown Lenox scene, acquiring Firefly Gastropub from Laura Shack in mid-summer 2020. In March 2021, he purchased the Olde Heritage Tavern, including its real estate on Housatonic Street, from longtime owner John McNinch and his family for $1.5 million, plus the undisclosed value of the business.
After the death of owner Jim Lucie, he bought the former Cafe Lucia in December 2021, which remains vacant. Under the Lenox Eats Collective marketing brand, he added The Scoop ice cream parlor and candy shop, renaming it Sweet Dreams. Other acquisitions included a vacant former restaurant site on Franklin Street, a commercial and residential site at 27 Housatonic St., including Ombra and Shots Cafe, while opening the Lenox Catering Co. and The Lunch Pail, a food truck.
The Journal occasionally offers articles courtesy of The Berkshire Eagle.
Please join us for a Celebration of Life to honor Michael R. Tesoro M.D. (May 20, 1941-—Dec. 25, 2024) whose vibrant spirit touched so many. We will gather on May 17 at 11:30 a.,m. at Trinity Lime Rock to remember Michael’s life with love and laughter.
A light fare reception to immediately follow at the church’s Walker Hall.
Trinity Lime Rock, 484 Lime Rock Rd., Lakeville. In lieu of flowers please direct donations to: Malta House of Care, Inc.,136 Farmington Avenue,Hartford, CT 06105 www.maltahouseofcare.org
SHARON — Keith Raven Johnson, a long-time resident of Sharon, died on April 26, 2025, a month after his 90th birthday, at Geer Rehabilitation and Long -Term Care facility in Canaan.
He was born on March 21, 1935, in Ithaca, New York, the son of John Raven Johnson and Hope Anderson Johnson.
Keith was a graduate of Phillips Exeter Academy and Cornell University where he was editor-in-chief of the Cornell Daily Sun and a member of Phi Beta Kappa.
After serving his active duty in the New York National Guard, he joined the New York Herald Tribune as a reporter in 1957. Four years later he moved to Time magazine where he served as a writer and editor in New York and as a correspondent based in Los Angeles, Washington, Paris and London, with temporary assignments in Africa, Germany, and Vietnam. He was executive editor of Money magazine and later of Discover magazine. He retired as a member of the board of editors of Fortune magazine in 1993.
Before his retirement, Keith served on the vestry at St. Thomas Church Fifth Avenue in New York City where he was also chair of the Choir School. He later became a member of the Lime Rock Episcopal Church.
After retirement, Keith served on the executive committee of the Lakeville Journal where he also contributed a column called “Cars” reflecting a life-long interest in performance automobiles. He also served as a trustee and treasurer of the Hotchkiss Library in Sharon and was on the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Connecticut. He was a member of the Cornell University Council and at one time chaired the Advisory Council of the College of Arts and Sciences at Cornell.
Keith is survived by his brother, Leonard Johnson, and his wife, Patricia, his son, Stephen Main, his niece, Paige Johnson Roth, his nephew, Keith Raven Johnson II, and his niece, Heide Novado Johnson. He was predeceased by his parents and his nephew, Eric Anderson Johnson.
Donations may be made in Keith’s memory to ACLU of Connecticut, 765 Asylum Avenue, Hartford CT 06015, or Keith Johnson ’52 and Leonard Johnson ’56 Scholarship Fund, Phillips Exeter Academy, 20 Main Street, Exeter NH 03833.
A celebration of Keith’s life will be held on Saturday, July 12 at 11 am at the Lime Rock Episcopal Church, followed by a reception in the parish hall.
NORTH CANAAN — Sue Ann Miller Plain, beloved wife, mother, grandmother, daughter, and sister, passed away on May 4, 2025, after a courageous battle with ALS. Sue Ann faced her illness with incredible strength, grace, and determination, never losing her spirit or her love for those around her.
Sue Ann was born on April 21, 1957, in Jersey City, New Jersey. She lived in North Canaan for 50 years where she built lasting friendships and began a life rooted in community and family.
She was the cherished wife of David W. Plain and devoted mother to Dara Robinson and Shanna Robinson, as well as loving stepmother to Felicia Plain and David K Plain. She was the proud and adoring grandmother to seven grandchildren, Collin Thyberg, Kartel Henry, Owen Henry, Rustin DeJesus, Colter DeJesus, Chayton Pastre and Brynn Pastre who were the light of her life and whom she loved more than anything in the world.
Born to Grace and Robert Miller, Sue Ann was raised with strong family values and a generous spirit. She was predeceased by her father, Robert, in 2008, and is survived by her mother, Grace Miller, and her two brothers, Robert and Rick Miller.
Sue Ann found great joy and purpose in community service, particularly through her involvement with the Women’s Auxiliary at the Couch Pipa V.F.W. Her dedication, warmth, and vibrant presence will be deeply missed by all who knew her.
Sue Ann’s life was defined by love—love for her family, her community, and the many friends she gathered along the way. Though ALS took her from us too soon, Sue Ann’s strength in the face of adversity and the love she gave so freely will never be forgotten.
Her legacy lives on in the hearts of her family, friends, and all who had the privilege of knowing her.
Service details will be shared by the family at a later time. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made in Sue Ann’s memory to the North Canaan V.F.W.,104 S. Canaan Rd, North Canaan, CT 06018, a cause close to her heart.
SALISBURY — Joan Anderson Turnure, 91, died after a long illness on May 3, 2025, at Noble Horizons in Salisbury. She was the loving widow of Michael DeBurbure Turnure.
Joan was born July 29, 1933, in Mexico City, Mexico, the daughter of the late Lawrence Anderson and Barbara (Ryan) Anderson. She grew up in Mexico and Maryland, later attending the Shipley School in Pennsylvania and earning a Bachelor of Arts in English from Vassar College.
Joan dedicated her life to her family.While the family was living in Venezuela in the 1960s, she taught high school English and founded a preschool. In their two years living in Paris, she took cooking lessons while shuttling four kids to schools and caring for her fifth baby.
In 1971, she and Michael returned to the U.S. and purchased Community Service, the northwestern Connecticut lumber and building materials business where Joan worked alongside her husband.
In Salisbury, Joan was active as a bridge player, a book club member, and a member of the Millbrook Garden Club. Joan won the Garden Club of America Catherine Beattie Medal for horticulture. This medal is awarded for vibrancy, prime condition, and perfection of grooming of a single plant. This was the first time in over 100 years that a Millbrook Garden Club member had received it.
Joan represented the fifth generation of women in her family to be born in Mexico. Fluent in Spanish, she was well-known within the Hispanic community and often advocated for their rights. A devoted dog lover, Joan always had a puppy or two throughout her life. Her last dog, a Chihuahua named Itsy-Bitsy, was, she said, her “best dog.”
She is survived by five children: Lili Bassett (John), John Turnure (Evie), Barbara Turnure, Virginia Morgan, and Richard Turnure (Bethany); twelve grandchildren: Eva, Eliza, Jack, and William Bassett; Nicholas and Henry Morgan; Nicole Halstead, Christine Turnure, David Turnure; Charlotte, Ryan, and Griffin Turnure; and six great-grandchildren: Adaleigh, Kinleigh, and Beckett Halstead; Westyn Turnure; and Christian and Savannah Boulier. She was predeceased by her husband, Michael; her brother, Lawrence Anderson; and her son-in-law, Jeffery B. Morgan.
A memorial service will be held at St. John’s Church in Salisbury on June 1, followed by a reception at The White Hart Inn. The Kenny Funeral Home has care of arrangements.