Sam Bankman-Fried, founder and former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, formally sought a pardon from President Donald Trump while serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy.
The clemency petition appeared Monday in records kept by the U.S. Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Counsel. The case is listed as pending, which means that a mercy petition has been opened and is being processed. The office said details of ongoing reviews are not made public.
The former crypto boss, known by his initials SBF, was convicted in 2023 of orchestrating the fraud and conspiracy scheme that ultimately brought down FTX, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.
The company collapsed in November 2022 after CoinDesk reported balance sheet problems linked to associate trading firm Alameda Research, revealing an $8 billion hole in FTX’s accounts and triggering a run on client deposits.
Bankman-Fried confirmed her interest in clemency during a recent interview with FOX Business.
“I take it you want a pardon from the White House?” FOX Business correspondent Susan Li asked him by phone. “Absolutely,” Bankman-Fried replied. “Obviously, you know, ultimately that would be up to the president, not up to me.”
He declined to say whether members of his family lobbied the administration on his behalf. SBF’s parents, Stanford Law School professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, have previously reached out to people in Trump’s inner circle to explore a possible presidential pardon for their son. It is not clear if any direct discussions with White House officials took place.
The pardon request follows months of public statements by Bankman-Fried that align with Trump’s positions. Writing through intermediaries using prison-approved communications, he has praised the president’s decision to launch strikes against Iran, claimed Trump helped “save” the Securities and Exchange Commission by replacing former chairman Gary Gensler with Paul Atkins and highlighted lower gas prices during Trump’s tenure.
He also appears to be following a playbook he wrote to try to ingratiate himself with Republicans after being seen as a Democratic mega-donor during the 2020 election. That playbook included items like appearing on Tucker Carlson’s show, something he did last year.
The outreach has drawn attention because Trump has shown a willingness to pardon high-profile defendants, including several figures linked to the crypto industry. Since returning to office, Trump has pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and the co-founders of BitMEX.
Still, Trump’s support is far from certain. In a January interview with The New York Times, the president said Bankman-Fried should not count on receiving clemency, grouping him with several other high-profile defendants he had no intention of pardoning.
For now, Bankman-Fried remains incarcerated while his appeal and clemency move through separate channels.
