White House Confirms Trump Will Not Pardon Sam Bankman-Fried

The White House has confirmed that President Trump will not grant clemency to Sam Bankman-Fried. The disgraced founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX made efforts to seek a presidential pardon from federal prison. This confirmation delivered by a White House official solidifies the administration's position on the matter.

Fortune reported the development on Tuesday. The announcement eliminates speculation that Trump might extend leniency to Bankman-Fried. It follows the president's stated opposition which he expressed clearly earlier this year.

Trump addressed the topic in a January interview with The New York Times. He ruled out pardoning Bankman-Fried even after granting clemency to other crypto executives like Changpeng Zhao of Binance and Arthur Hayes of BitMEX. This selective approach reflects specific evaluations of each situation.

Bankman-Fried launched a social media offensive aimed at influencing the decision. His recent posts criticize aspects of the judiciary and embrace positions aligned with Republican viewpoints. Such messaging represents a departure from the support he previously showed for Democratic causes.

These attempts have not gained the expected traction with the current administration. Bankman-Fried has therefore turned his attention back to challenging his conviction. He is actively engaged in the appeals process to contest the legal rulings against him.

Background on the FTX Collapse and Legal Proceedings

A jury convicted Bankman-Fried in March 2024 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy. The charges involved the misappropriation of customer deposits at his exchange FTX. The platform filed for bankruptcy in November 2022 once issues with its financial practices came to light.

FTX had achieved a valuation of $32 billion at its height. The collapse damaged trust in centralized cryptocurrency platforms across the industry. Regulators and policymakers have since focused on developing stronger oversight frameworks to avoid repeats of such events.

Bankman-Fried was worth an estimated one billion dollars at his peak. That wealth disappeared completely after the FTX bankruptcy. The failure also affected the market performance of the exchange's native token FTT.

His history of political donations has drawn attention in coverage of the pardon denial. Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million dollars to Joe Biden's 2020 campaign. He provided no equivalent support to Trump which some believe influenced the outcome.