Sam Bankman-Fried formally requests presidential pardon from Trump, seeking relief after 25-year FTX fraud sentence

The official pardon application

Sam Bankman-Fried, 34, has formally requested a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The application, submitted to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, seeks a “pardon after completion of sentence,” meaning his conviction would be forgiven only after he fully serves his 25‑year prison term. The application was filed on 8 June 2026 and is currently listed as “pending” on the Justice Department’s website. Neither the White House nor the Justice Department commented on the request. Bankman-Fried did not request a commutation, which would shorten his sentence.

A multi‑billion‑dollar fraud

FTX, once among the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed in November 2022 after it was revealed that customer funds had been misappropriated. Bankman‑Fried was arrested in the Bahamas that December and extradited to the United States. In 2023 a jury convicted him on multiple counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. In March 2024 he was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison. Estimates of the losses range from $8 billion to $11 billion, depending on the source. Prosecutors likened his management of the exchange to “playing Monopoly,” and the judge described him as “extremely intelligent with some degree of autism.”

Campaigning for clemency

For more than a year Bankman‑Fried has been attempting to reshape his image and court Trump’s favor. In early 2025 he gave a jailhouse interview to Tucker Carlson in which he denied being a criminal, voiced support for Republican positions, and blamed his prosecution on what he called “Biden’s lawfare machine.” The interview, conducted without Bureau of Prisons approval, led to his placement in solitary confinement at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. His parents have separately consulted a lawyer with ties to Trump’s campaigns. On social media, posts from an account linked to Bankman‑Fried have praised Trump’s handling of Iran and artificial intelligence. He has also sought to shift blame toward those involved in the FTX bankruptcy.

Absolutely. It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.

Trump’s position and pardon record

President Trump, however, has already indicated he is not inclined to grant clemency. In a January 2026 interview with The New York Times, he said he had no plans to pardon Bankman‑Fried. Trump has issued at least 147 pardons and commutations during his second term, including for participants in the January 6 Capitol attack, former staff members, and the founder of the dark‑web marketplace Silk Road. Yet Bankman‑Fried’s appeal of his conviction remains pending before the federal appeals court in New York, and any executive action would almost certainly face political scrutiny.

Where things stand

Bankman‑Fried, once a prominent Democratic donor, is serving his sentence at a low‑security federal prison in California. His formal pardon request joins more than 20,000 other applications awaiting review. The path to a pardon remains long: the president has publicly dismissed the prospect, and Bankman‑Fried’s legal team continues to press for a reversal of his conviction on appeal. A decision from the appeals court could come at any time.