Crypto billionaire Bankman-Fried seeks Trump pardon
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally applied for a presidential pardon from U.S. President Donald Trump, according to records published by the U.S. Department of Justice, reports a Qazinform News Agency correspondent.
The 34-year-old former crypto billionaire is serving a 25-year prison sentence after being convicted in 2024 on multiple fraud and conspiracy charges linked to the collapse of FTX.
According to the Justice Department's website, Bankman-Fried has applied for a "pardon after completion of sentence." Such a pardon would not overturn his conviction but could restore certain civil rights, including the right to vote, serve on a jury, and access employment, licensing, housing and educational opportunities.
In an interview with Fox Business published on Monday, Bankman-Fried said he “absolutely” wants a presidential pardon.
Once regarded as one of the most influential figures in the cryptocurrency industry, Bankman-Fried led FTX to a peak valuation of $32 billion before the exchange collapsed in 2022.
Prosecutors accused him of diverting billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, where the money was used for investments, political donations and real estate purchases.
As part of his sentence, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Bankman-Fried to forfeit more than $11 billion in assets linked to the fraud.
When imposing the sentence, Kaplan warned there was a risk “that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it’s not a trivial risk.”
A White House spokesperson declined to comment on the pardon request. However, Trump previously indicated in a January interview that he was not inclined to grant clemency to Bankman-Fried.
Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that a U.S. federal court had dismissed a lawsuit filed by tech billionaire Elon Musk against Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and OpenAI over claims that the company had abandoned its original nonprofit mission.
