FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Seeks Pardon from Donald Trump

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has officially submitted a request for a presidential pardon to U.S. President Donald Trump. The application is currently under review by the Office of the Pardon Attorney within the U.S. Department of Justice.

Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year federal prison sentence. He was convicted in 2023 on multiple charges related to large-scale financial fraud. Prosecutors accused him of misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds from both FTX and its sister trading firm, Alameda Research. A jury found him guilty on all counts.

The exact date of the pardon application's submission is unclear, but Justice Department records indicate it was filed in 2026 under the category of "pardon after completion of sentence." However, a potential obstacle to Bankman-Fried's request emerged in January 2026. In an interview with The New York Times, Trump stated he had "no intention of pardoning" several high-profile individuals, a group that reportedly included Bankman-Fried.

The White House has declined to comment on the pardon request. During his first term, Trump issued 238 pardons and commutations. In his second term, as of the time of this report, he had granted over 1,400 pardons and commutations, including more than 1,200 related to cases stemming from the January 6th Capitol Hill incident.

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no intention of pardoning