Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, has formally sought a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump, more than two years after being convicted over the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange. According to Bloomberg, Bankman-Fried submitted a pardon application to the Office of the Pardon Attorney at the US Department of Justice. The office’s website shows that he requested a “pardon after completion of sentence.” This comes as Trump has actively exercised his clemency powers since returning to office, including granting pardons to some people convicted of white-collar crimes.
Bankman-Fried says he wants a pardon
From a federal prison, Bankman-Fried recently told FOX Business that he would welcome a pardon from Trump. “I assume that you would want a pardon from the White House?.” To which he responded, “Absolutely.” “It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.”
Why Bankman-Fried was convicted
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison on March 28, 2024, after being convicted of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering linked to the collapse of FTX and its sister hedge fund, Alameda Research.
A federal jury found him guilty on all seven criminal counts in November 2023. Prosecutors argued that he misused billions of dollars in customer deposits to support Alameda’s risky investments, political donations and real estate purchases.
The court found that FTX customers lost about $8 billion, equity investors lost $1.7 billion and lenders to Alameda Research lost $1.3 billion. Judge Lewis Kaplan also ordered an $11 billion forfeiture aimed at compensating victims.
Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang were among the key witnesses who testified against Bankman-Fried after pleading guilty and cooperating with prosecutors.
Bankman-Fried maintains he did not steal customer funds
Bankman-Fried continues to argue that he was treated unfairly and insists that customers have ultimately been repaid. “I didn’t steal user funds either,” he told Li. “Customers have been repaid now 170% or so on their deposits. It’s one of the very few cases where the platform was over-collateralized, where customers were more than made whole. And yet there was, you know, not just a criminal investigation, but a prosecution. And, you know, dozens of years of sentence[s],” he told Fox Business. He also argued that the recovery of cryptocurrency markets helped improve payouts during the bankruptcy process.
“I can only tell you what I think and, you know, ultimately, customers have been repaid again nearly twice what they had on the platform,” Bankman-Fried said, “and it’s a great disservice to them that it has taken three years.”
Appeal remains pending
Bankman-Fried is currently appealing both his conviction and prison sentence. His lawyers have argued that judicial bias affected the original trial and have sought a new hearing. Separately, the FTX bankruptcy estate continues efforts to recover assets around the world and distribute funds to affected users and creditors.