Sam Bankman-Fried made it official Monday. The founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX submitted an application for a presidential pardon to the Justice Department’s Pardon Attorney Office. He seeks relief after completion of his sentence. The move comes more than two years after his conviction on fraud and money laundering charges tied to the disappearance of billions in customer funds.
This step escalates a campaign Bankman-Fried has conducted from behind bars. He has posted on social media. He has granted interviews to conservative outlets. He has praised policies and figures aligned with the current administration. Yet the odds remain long. President Trump stated in a January interview with The New York Times that he does not plan to pardon him. White House officials have repeated that position as recently as February.
Bankman-Fried, 34, is serving a 25-year prison term handed down in March 2024. Prosecutors proved he orchestrated multiple fraudulent schemes. He directed FTX customer deposits into his hedge fund Alameda Research. He used those funds for personal expenses, political donations and to cover losses. Customers lost more than $8 billion. The bankruptcy process has since recovered assets that allowed repayments exceeding 100 percent in many cases. Bankman-Fried still maintains he did not steal user funds. “Customers have been repaid now 170% or so on their deposits,” he told Fox Business correspondent Susan Li in an exclusive interview from his federal prison cell. “Customers were more than made whole.”
Absolutely. That was his direct response when asked if he wants a pardon. “It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.” He declined to discuss whether his parents or others lobby on his behalf. “I can’t speak for them,” he said.
The formal filing stands out. Trump has issued pardons to hundreds during his second term. Many went to participants in the January 6 events. A significant share, however, benefited white-collar offenders. An NBC News analysis from January showed more than half of individual pardons addressed crimes such as money laundering, bank fraud and wire fraud. The president has shown willingness to extend clemency to figures in the crypto space. He pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. Bankman-Fried’s profile differs. He was a major donor to Democratic causes before the collapse. His trial highlighted ties to influential politicians and effective altruism circles.
Congressional voices in the crypto-friendly wing of the Republican Party have pushed back. A Politico report from March captured blunt sentiment. One lawmaker called Bankman-Fried “a piece of s–t.” Industry advocates urged Trump to avoid the controversy. The White House offered no comment on the latest application. Officials had already signaled in responses to Fortune that Trump has no intention of granting clemency.
Bankman-Fried’s strategy evolved over months. Early reports from Bloomberg in January 2025 indicated his parents, both Stanford law professors, explored options and met with figures in Trump’s orbit. By February he ramped up public comments. He backed Trump’s strikes on Iran. He highlighted lower gas prices. He drew parallels between his story and tech successes. In the Fox Business conversation he expressed regret over missing the artificial intelligence surge. He singled out Elon Musk’s ability to scale companies. Such remarks appeared designed to build common ground. A Ars Technica article in March revealed prosecutors uncovered a document in which Bankman-Fried mapped out a post-collapse rehabilitation and pardon plan. The discovery undercut his reinvention narrative inside the Justice Department.
The pardon process itself carries limited weight in Trump’s approach. Bloomberg Law noted that few of those who received clemency filed formal applications through the Pardon Attorney Office. The president has often acted on direct recommendations or political calculations. TechCrunch reported the application’s confirmation via the official Justice Department website. The filing requests a full pardon after sentence completion rather than immediate commutation. That distinction matters. It signals Bankman-Fried anticipates serving substantial time before any relief.
Reactions on X lit up within hours. Prediction markets priced the chance of a pardon between 10 and 32 percent. Some traders pointed to FTX’s token FTT jumping as much as 62 percent on the news. Crypto investors remain divided. Many see the FTX saga as a stain the industry has worked hard to move past. Others argue the full customer repayments and changing political climate could justify mercy. Bankman-Fried continues to insist the bankruptcy resolution proves no permanent harm occurred. Prosecutors countered during sentencing that his actions shattered trust in digital assets at a critical moment.
So the application sits with the Pardon Attorney Office. It joins a stack of similar requests. Trump’s track record on white-collar cases suggests he weighs factors beyond standard DOJ review. Political loyalty, public image and donor history all play roles. Bankman-Fried’s past support for Democrats and effective altruism causes once made him an outlier in Republican circles. His recent pivot has not yet swayed key decision makers. Lawyers for Bankman-Fried offered no immediate comment on the filing. The White House stayed silent Monday.
His prison interviews reveal a man still intellectually engaged. He follows technology trends. He draws business analogies. He positions himself as rehabilitated. Whether that narrative gains traction with the one person who can change his outcome remains uncertain. Trump has surprised observers before with clemency grants. He has also held firm against certain high-profile names. For now Bankman-Fried’s bid represents the latest chapter in a saga that began with a Bahamas penthouse, a Super Bowl advertisement and billions in misplaced customer assets. It continues in a federal facility where he waits for an answer that may never come.
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