Sam Bankman-Fried has applied to President Donald Trump for a pardon while serving a 25-year prison sentence for his FTX fraud conviction. The 34-year-old filed the request with the Department of Justice after already spending two years into that sentence.
The move puts one of the crypto industry’s most notorious collapse stories back in front of the White House. FTX fell apart in 2022 amid claims that Bankman-Fried had been using deposited funds as his own, and he was later convicted on multiple federal charges tied to FTX and Alameda Research.
What makes the filing notable is not just that he is asking for clemency, but what he is asking for. Bankman-Fried has not sought a commutation, which would shorten a sentence now being served; instead, he has filed for a pardon after completion of sentence, a step that would forgive his convictions once he finishes prison. He is doing that while also trying to appeal the sentence and while still maintaining that he is innocent.
That leaves him in a position that is unusual even by the standards of presidential clemency. Earlier this year, Trump was asked whether he would pardon Bankman-Fried and said he would not, though the new filing now adds his name to more than 20,000 requests for pardons or commutations. Trump has already used pardons in his second term for people tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, former members of his staff, the founder of a dark web marketplace and the leader of Binance.
For Bankman-Fried, the immediate consequence is simple: he remains in prison, his appeal continues, and the pardon request now sits before a president who has already signaled he is not inclined to help. If the request goes nowhere, the only path left is the one he is already pursuing in court.
