After failing to secure a presidential pardon under the Biden administration, former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) aims to get one from Donald Trump.
The former CEO of FTX has embarked on a series of initiatives to secure a pardon from President Trump. According to Fortune, part of this campaign includes featuring in an exclusive interview on the Trump-friendly Tucker Carlson Show.
Notably, he featured in the interview from prison, where he currently serves a 25-year jail term for offenses that led to the collapse of FTX. During the interview, Bankman-Fried lauded Trump for his friendly approach to crypto as he hoped the president would fulfill them.
However, he criticized the Biden administration’s stance on crypto, characterizing the Gary Gensler-led SEC’s regulation as a nightmare.
SBF also revealed that by late 2022, he had made significant donations to the Republican Party as much as he had to the Democratic Party. Fortune reported that the interview was unsanctioned, landing SBF in solitary confinement.
Additionally, SBF is consulting with a legal expert close to Trump to secure a pardon. Furthermore, his father, Joe Bankman, a Stanford law professor, praised Trump’s sovereign wealth fund initiative in an opinion piece published in the Washington Post.
Mixed Reactions About Potential Success of SBF Campaign
Despite these efforts, political insiders referred to SBF’s quest to secure a presidential pardon from Trump as a ‘long shot.’ Specifically, an anonymous crypto lobbyist asserted that the chances of SBF’s campaign yielding success are close to zero.
However, another lobbyist hinted that his odds of a pardon under Trump’s administration are increasing due to the president’s support for the industry. This individual suggested that SBF will only secure a pardon under Trump if the broader crypto industry prioritizes him “as it did with Ulbricht.”
Trump has already leveraged his pardoning power to set free Ross Ulbricht, the founder of the dark web marketplace Silk Road.
While many industry stakeholders advocated for Ulbricht’s release, SBF does not have such support due to his fraudulent practices while at FTX.
Recall that Bankman-Fried was officially sentenced to a 25-year jail term on March 28, 2024, for orchestrating a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme that led to the collapse of his crypto empire, including FTX.
Besides seeking a presidential pardon, he is hoping that his appeal to the Second Circuit would help him reduce or dismiss his prison sentence.
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