FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried seeks presidential pardon from Trump

Sam Bankman-Fried has formally filed a presidential pardon application while continuing to challenge his conviction and 25-year prison sentence through the U.S. appeals process.

Summary

• Sam Bankman-Fried has filed a formal presidential pardon application despite Donald Trump previously saying he does not plan to grant clemency.
• The former FTX CEO remains in prison serving a 25-year sentence while his appeal against the 2023 fraud conviction continues.
• Recent court efforts to secure a new trial were rejected, leaving the appeal and pardon request as his main remaining paths for relief.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney website, the former FTX CEO has submitted a request for a “pardon after completion of sentence,” reviving a clemency effort that has faced political resistance in recent months.

The filing comes despite comments from U.S. President Donald Trump, who told The New York Times in January that he had no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried. When asked about the renewed application this week, a White House spokesperson referred to Trump’s earlier remarks, signaling no change in the administration’s position.

Now 34, Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on seven fraud and conspiracy charges after federal prosecutors argued that he diverted billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX to its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan later sentenced him to 25 years in prison.

Recent records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show that Bankman-Fried is currently housed at a low-security federal correctional facility in Santa Barbara, California.

Pardon bid follows setbacks in court

The clemency request arrives after a series of unsuccessful legal efforts to overturn the conviction.

Earlier this year, Bankman-Fried filed a Rule 33 motion seeking a new trial, arguing that later evidence and testimony challenged key parts of the government’s case. Court filings show he later withdrew that request without prejudice, saying he may revisit the issue after his direct appeal and after a decision on his separate request to have another judge oversee any future motion.

Days later, Judge Kaplan formally rejected the retrial request. In an April ruling, the judge wrote that the witnesses cited by Bankman-Fried were not newly discovered and could have been called during the original proceedings. Kaplan also dismissed allegations that prosecutors pressured witnesses, describing those claims as unsupported by the trial record.

Federal prosecutors similarly argued that the defense had failed to show any genuinely new evidence. Court filings from the government also challenged claims that FTX was solvent before its collapse, stating that the exchange held only 105 Bitcoin against customer claims approaching 100,000 Bitcoin.

While the retrial effort has been closed at the district court level, Bankman-Fried’s appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit remains active.

Family campaign has failed to improve pardon prospects

Alongside the legal challenge, members of Bankman-Fried’s family have publicly defended him and questioned the government’s case.

During a CNN interview discussed in May, his parents, Stanford law professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, argued that the judgment against their son was wrong and disputed the characterization of FTX’s conduct. Barbara Fried also argued that the prosecution was politically motivated, while Joseph Bankman maintained that customer assets were ultimately available through the bankruptcy estate.

Those arguments have not translated into stronger expectations for clemency. Data from prediction markets cited in May showed traders assigning only a low probability to a presidential pardon. Polymarket placed the odds at 11%, while Kalshi showed 9%.

Political support has also remained limited. U.S. Senator Cynthia Lummis told Politico in May that she hoped Trump would not pardon Bankman-Fried, saying the former executive had harmed many people.