Sam Bankman-Fried Files Pardon Request to Trump From Prison

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has formally asked President Donald Trump for a presidential pardon. The request appears on the U.S. Department of Justice Office of the Pardon Attorney website as a pending application for a pardon after completion of sentence.

Trump told the New York Times in January that he has “no intention of pardoning” Bankman-Fried, grouping him with other high-profile defendants he did not want to help. The clemency bid, first reported by the pardon request first reported on June 8, was categorized as a request for forgiveness of the conviction once the sentence ends. Bankman-Fried, now 34, is not asking for a commutation that would shorten the time. The White House declined to comment on the new request.

The Clemency Bid Lands in DOJ Records

Bankman-Fried confirmed his interest in clemency during a phone interview with FOX Business correspondent Susan Li. “I assume that you would want a pardon from the White House?” Li asked. “Absolutely,” Bankman-Fried replied. “It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.”

His parents, Stanford Law School professors Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, have separately reached out to individuals in Trump’s orbit to explore a possible pardon, per CoinDesk. The interview and the family outreach are the public markers of a campaign that began well before the formal filing. Bankman-Fried has been writing through intermediaries using prison-approved communications, praising Trump on Iran, on the appointment of Paul Atkins to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, and on gasoline prices. He appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show last year as part of the same public-relations effort.

The White House declined to comment when reporters asked about the request this month. Trump has issued more than 1,400 pardons and commutations in his second term, including more than 1,200 tied to January 6, and 238 across his first term. Bankman-Fried’s application is one of more than 20,000 now pending at the pardon office, according to the count of pending applications at the office.

A Pardon That Would Forgive Without Erasing

A full presidential pardon and a commutation are not the same thing, and Bankman-Fried’s filing asks for the former, not the latter. A commutation cuts a sentence short while leaving the conviction intact. A pardon forgives the offense and, when granted after the sentence ends, restores civil rights that felony convictions strip away: the right to vote, the right to serve on a jury, the right to hold certain licenses, and the right to work in fields that bar the convicted. Bankman-Fried is asking for the door back to civic life, not the door out of federal prison.

The Justice Department’s website spells out the option Bankman-Fried has chosen. A “pardon after completion of sentence” lifts those collateral barriers without rewriting the historical fact of conviction. Presidents are not bound by the Pardon Attorney’s recommendation. The office reviews applications, collects records, and offers an opinion, but the final call sits in the White House. The clemency pipeline can take years or months, depending on the political weight of the case and the volume of competing applications.

The Case the Bid Is Built On

FTX collapsed in November 2022 after CoinDesk reported balance sheet concerns at affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, exposing an $8 billion hole in FTX’s customer accounts. Prosecutors alleged that Bankman-Fried channeled customer money to Alameda, used it for personal investments and political donations, and directed subordinates to alter FTX’s code to give Alameda effectively unlimited withdrawals. The firm had been valued at $32 billion at its peak.

The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York framed the scale of the conduct at sentencing.

Samuel Bankman-Fried orchestrated one of the largest financial frauds in history, stealing over $8 billion of his customers’ money.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York delivered that line at the March 2024 sentencing, per the Justice Department’s 2024 sentencing release. Bankman-Fried has maintained that he did not set out to defraud customers, blaming mismanagement and risk errors. The jury rejected that view. He has appealed the conviction and the sentence, and the appeal is running on a separate track from the clemency filing. There is no procedural link between the two; both are now in motion.

• 25 years: federal prison sentence imposed in March 2024
• $11 billion: forfeiture order from U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan
• 7 felony counts: including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy
• 2023: jury conviction after a one-month federal trial in New York

A Pivot From Democratic Mega-Donor to Trump Defender

Bankman-Fried was once one of the largest Democratic donors in the country, channeling millions to candidates and causes tied to the 2020 election. From a federal prison cell, his public posture has shifted toward the politicians he once opposed. Writing through intermediaries using prison-approved communications, Bankman-Fried has praised Trump’s decision to launch strikes against Iran, argued that Trump helped “save” the Securities and Exchange Commission by replacing former Chair Gary Gensler with Paul Atkins, and highlighted lower gasoline prices.

He appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show last year as part of the same Republican-outreach effort. He declined to say whether members of his family were lobbying the administration on his behalf. The pivot matters because the clemency queue at the White House is not a blind process. Presidents weigh the political and cultural signals an applicant sends, and Bankman-Fried has spent months making himself legible to a Trump-aligned audience.

The Crypto Clemency Track Record

Trump has shown a willingness to use the pardon power for crypto-industry figures. Since returning to office he has pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, former Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, and the co-founders of BitMEX. The Binance founder CZ’s pardon followed months of efforts by Zhao to boost the Trump family’s crypto company, World Liberty Financial, a venture that has drawn its own congressional scrutiny over foreign investment. The clemency pattern is clear: Trump is willing to relieve crypto executives who have signaled loyalty. The same office is now reviewing Bankman-Fried’s application.

Bankman-Fried’s path looks similar in shape, but with a sharper edge. Zhao served his time and won a pardon; Bankman-Fried is asking for relief before completing his sentence. The White House’s January comment to the New York Times puts him in a different bucket from the clemency winners so far.

The four cases on the record cover a range of conduct, from a dark-web drug marketplace to Bank Secrecy Act violations to a multibillion-dollar fraud. The clemency office’s review process is not publicly disclosed, per CoinDesk. The office assesses factors including acceptance of responsibility, post-conviction conduct, and the impact on victims. The White House has the final word on all of them.

More than 20,000 other clemency cases are also pending at the office, per Office of the Pardon Attorney records. The office is not bound to act on applications in any particular order.

The Founder Seeks Mercy While Creditors Are Made Whole

Repayments to FTX creditors have been moving on a separate track from the criminal case. The FTX Recovery Trust announced a fourth distribution of approximately $2.2 billion on March 31, 2026, per the trust’s distribution release. FTX emerged from Chapter 11 in early 2025 under a plan the bankruptcy estate said would return more than 100% of creditor claims.

The March 31 distribution brought cumulative recoveries to a near-complete level for several classes of claimants. U.S. customer entitlement claims reached 100% cumulative, with a 5% incremental distribution. General unsecured claims and digital asset loan claims also reached 100% cumulative, each with a 15% incremental distribution. Dotcom customer entitlement claims reached 96% cumulative, with an 18% incremental distribution, and convenience class claims reached 120% cumulative.

The pardon request, by contrast, asks the federal government to forgive the man whose conviction produced those claims in the first place. Creditors who lost money on the exchange are watching a parallel process: a bankruptcy estate returning their funds, and a federal review of whether the man convicted of taking those funds deserves relief. The two tracks will run on their own timelines.

How the Pardon Office Will Handle the File

The Office of the Pardon Attorney will review Bankman-Fried’s application, gather input from federal prosecutors in New York, and weigh factors the office’s guidelines call standard: acceptance of responsibility, post-conviction conduct, and the impact on victims. The office is not bound to publish its recommendation or its timeline; applications can sit for years. The queue holds more than 20,000 pending clemency cases, per the office’s records. The White House can act at any time, regardless of where the review stands, and the final decision rests with the president.

Possible outcomes include a denial, a full pardon after sentence completion, a commutation, or a conditional grant. Any action would carry immediate legal and political consequences and could influence ongoing civil claims and bankruptcy recoveries tied to FTX. The clemency filing does not change the appeal’s posture, and the appeal does not change the clemency filing’s status.

Frequently Asked Questions

What did Sam Bankman-Fried actually file?

Bankman-Fried submitted a clemency request to the Office of the Pardon Attorney, the federal channel for executive clemency applications. The request was logged as pending in the department’s public records and reported by CNBC on June 8, 2026.

How is a pardon after completion different from a commutation?

A commutation shortens a sentence while leaving the conviction on the record. A pardon after completion does not change the time served; it forgives the offense and restores civil rights such as voting, jury service, and access to certain professional licenses once the sentence is finished.

Did Trump say he would pardon Bankman-Fried?

No. In a January 2026 interview with the New York Times, Trump said he has “no intention of pardoning” Bankman-Fried, grouping him with other high-profile defendants he did not want to help. The White House declined to comment on the new request when asked this month.

What sentence is Bankman-Fried serving?

A 25-year federal prison term is what Bankman-Fried is now serving, with three years of supervised release to follow. The sentence was imposed in March 2024 by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, alongside an $11 billion forfeiture order. He is appealing both the conviction and the sentence.

Are FTX customers being made whole?

Several classes of claims are now fully recovered through the FTX Recovery Trust. U.S. customers, general unsecured creditors, and digital asset loan claimants reached 100% cumulative recovery after the March 31, 2026 distribution, with Dotcom customer claims at 96% cumulative. The fourth distribution totaled approximately $2.2 billion.

Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only. It covers a pending federal clemency request and a criminal sentence under appeal. Legal outcomes are uncertain, figures are accurate as of publication, and readers should consult a qualified attorney for advice on any related legal matter.