Convicted for one of the largest financial frauds in the cryptocurrency sector, FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried is seeking a presidential pardon in March 2026. However, this initiative lacks support among American politicians and within the administration of President Donald Trump.
This is reported by Finway
Decisive Rejection from Congress and the White House
Bankman-Fried is actively reaching out to the public through various channels, including posts on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter), promoting rhetoric aligned with MAGA ideology and emphasizing the injustice of his sentence. He claims to have become a victim of the “Biden legal machine.”
Despite these efforts, American congressmen and senators from both political parties categorically reject the idea of a pardon. Specifically, Senator Bernie Moreno has strongly opposed Bankman-Fried’s release, stressing that he must serve his entire sentence. Senator Cynthia Lummis also noted that Trump should not succumb to demands for amnesty for SBF. Congressman Mike Flood highlighted the scale of the damage caused by the entrepreneur, stating that Bankman-Fried’s return to the public sphere is unacceptable due to the severe harm to the market.
“He crashed the market and committed massive fraud,” Flood stated.
Democrat Sam Liccardo added that no compensation can justify pardoning a convicted individual. Such statements reflect the general skepticism among American lawmakers regarding the possibility of revisiting SBF’s sentence.
Futility of the Pardon Campaign
Despite a series of attempts to draw attention to his case, including interviews from prison and public support for Donald Trump’s initiatives, Bankman-Fried’s efforts remain in vain. In his statements, he mentioned the conditions of his detention, noted that he was housed in a cell with Sean “Diddy” Combs, and emphasized the political bias in the handling of his case and the role of the Democrat-appointed judge.
It is known that Bankman-Fried’s parents, Stanford professors, consulted with lawyers linked to Trump’s campaign to build a strategy for the pardon. However, in January 2026, Donald Trump publicly stated that he had no intention of granting SBF’s request for a pardon, a position that was later confirmed by the White House.
Interestingly, Trump had previously pardoned several notable figures in the crypto market, including Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, co-founders of the BitMEX exchange, and former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao. However, Bankman-Fried’s case is considered unique due to its scale: the court found him guilty on seven counts, including fraud and conspiracy. Prosecutors labeled the incident as one of the largest financial crimes in recent years.
The investigation established that SBF orchestrated a scheme that allowed Alameda Research to use FTX customer funds. This information was corroborated in court by associates of the defendant, including Caroline Ellison. As a result of the entrepreneur’s criminal activities, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison, with total customer losses estimated at $8 billion.
Experts believe that the chances of a pardon for SBF remain minimal even despite the active information campaign. Even those politicians who previously supported the development of the crypto market have distanced themselves from Bankman-Fried, emphasizing the seriousness of his violations and the significant negative impact on the industry.