Sam Bankman-Fried has formally petitioned the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney for a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump, even as Trump has publicly stated he will not grant clemency to the convicted FTX founder.
The clemency petition, listed on the DOJ’s clemency case status portal as pending, marks an escalation in Bankman-Fried’s legal strategy as he simultaneously pursues an appeal of his conviction and 25-year prison sentence. When asked directly whether he wants a pardon from the White House, Bankman-Fried responded: “Absolutely.”
Bankman-Fried was sentenced on March 28, 2024, after a New York jury found him guilty on all seven criminal counts in November 2023. The charges included two counts of wire fraud and five counts of conspiracy. Prosecutors demonstrated he misused billions in customer deposits to fund risky bets at Alameda Research, finance political donations, and purchase real estate.
The FTX collapse began in November 2022 after CoinDesk reported balance sheet concerns linking FTX to Alameda Research, triggering a customer run that exposed an $8 billion gap in the platform’s accounts. Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Bankman-Fried to forfeit $11 billion.
Bankman-Fried disputes the prosecution’s characterization of his conduct. “I didn’t steal user funds either,” he stated. He has pointed to the bankruptcy process as evidence of restitution: “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 not just a criminal investigation, but a prosecution and dozens of years of sentence.”
The collapse wiped out $8 billion in customer funds, $1.7 billion in equity investor losses, and $1.3 billion in lender losses to Alameda Research. Bankman-Fried expressed frustration about the timeline: “It’s a great disservice to them that it has taken three years.”
Trump has previously pardoned other high-profile crypto defendants, including Ross Ulbricht, founder of Silk Road, and Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, former CEO of Binance. The pardon applications for BitMEX co-founders were also granted.
Bankman-Fried, who had been a Democratic mega-donor in 2020, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s program in 2025 to signal alignment with conservative audiences. When asked whether family members were lobbying the administration on his behalf, he said: “I can’t speak for them.” He acknowledged the ultimate decision rests elsewhere: “It would be, obviously, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.”
Trump has not reversed his public position. The petition remains pending in DOJ records as of June 8, 2026.
