Sam Bankman Fried Seeks Donald Trump for Pardon in the FTX Saga

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After the epic release of Ross Ulbricht who was pardoned by President Donald Trump in January 2025, others are following suit. sam bankman fried sam bankman fried Sam Bankman Fried is a successful American entrepreneur, angel investor, and billionaire with a remarkable history in the space of the cryptocurrency industry. Being the Founder and CEO of FTX, a leading cryptocurrency exchange he has played a key role in the revolutionization and development of the crypto space through his excellent experience and potency. Sam Bankman Fried is a native of Stanford, California, United States.   Ranked as 60th on the 2022 Forbes billionaires list incorporating a net worth of US$24 Billion. Began his career working at Jane Street Capital, a trading organization that trades international ETFs. Later, in 2017 he quit Jane Street and founded Alameda Research, a quantitative cryptocurrency trading organization established in October 2017.  Bankman build an arbitrage trade, raising $25 Million every day, to take benefit from the higher price of Bitcoin in Japan in 2018.   After attending a cryptocurrency conference in 2018, in Macau, he got inspired by the concurrent crew of Bitcoin cash and built his firm, FTX according to July 2021 that averages $10 Billion of day-to-day trading volume with beyond 1 Million users that provides a policy of donating 1% of its revenue to charity. Bankman aims to support lawmakers who perform the vast game on policymaking in spaces like pandemic planning and preparedness. EntrepreneurChief Executive OfficerTrader the once high-flying crypto gem, is making surprising political comments from prison. This is seen as a direct appeal to Trump for his release. 

Speaking with The New York Sun, he suggested that Trump, not Biden, might be his best shot at freedom. In his first interview since being sentenced to 25 years, the FTX founder openly criticized the Biden administration’s “destructive” influence on the legal system, claiming his case was politically motivated. 

Bankman-Fried argued that his downfall was not due to fraud but was instead a case of “prosecutorial overreach.” He maintained that FTX was solvent but lacked liquidity when it collapsed in 2022, blaming law firm Sullivan & Cromwell for mismanaging the bankruptcy. As FTX finally starts repaying customers, he pointed out that they’re being reimbursed based on 2022 crash prices, not today’s much higher values—another reason he claims the system is flawed. 

Moreover, his parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, are also reportedly working to secure a presidential pardon, though there is no official communication yet on this matter. The report also traces Elon Musk’s cryptic post regarding SBF’s political connections. 

An Attempt to Win Over Trump

Bankman-Fried, who was once the second-largest donor to the Biden campaign, now distances himself from the Democratic Party. He described the Biden administration as “difficult to work with” and praised the Republican Party as being more reasonable. He highlighted a key fact that, before Trump returned to the White House in 2024, he faced serious legal troubles over secret government documents and his alleged attempts to change the 2020 election results.

He always claimed these cases were politically motivated by Biden. But once Trump won, the charges disappeared. Bankman-Fried pointed out that the judge in his trial, Lewis Kaplan, was the same one who ruled against Trump in a case where a woman accused him of assault and defamation. He suggested that just like Trump, he felt unfairly treated by the judge.

He even drew attention to his former associate, Ryan Salame, a Republican donor who received a much harsher 90-month sentence, implying that political bias played a role.

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A Broader Crypto Clemency Movement?

Beyond his case, Bankman-Fried is not the only crypto figure hoping for a Trump pardon. Supporters are pushing for clemency for Roger “Bitcoin Jesus” Ver and Ethereum researcher Virgil Griffith, who was convicted for discussing crypto in North Korea.

Despite everything, Bankman-Fried insists money is not his biggest concern. But with Trump previously pardoning Ross Ulbricht early in his term, the disgraced FTX founder is hoping history repeats itself—this time, in his favor. If Trump pardons Bankman-Fried, it wouldn’t be his first favor to a crypto convict. Whether Trump will listen remains to be seen.