Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has officially filed a request for a presidential pardon with President Donald Trump. This information has been made available through the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney website. Bankman-Fried is currently serving a lengthy 25-year federal prison sentence after being convicted of masterminding a large-scale fraud scheme that involved misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX and its affiliated trading entity, Alameda Research.
While the exact date of Bankman-Fried’s pardon request remains unclear, Department of Justice records indicate that the appeal for “pardon after completion of sentence” was filed in 2026 and is still pending review. This case comes at a time when Trump has publicly stated his unwillingness to pardon several high-profile individuals, including Bankman-Fried, during a January interview with The New York Times.
Throughout his second term, Trump has extended over 1,400 pardons and commutations, with more than 1,200 of those related to the events of January 6th. In his first term, he granted a total of 238 pardons and commutations. Despite Bankman-Fried’s high-profile status and the substantial implications of his case, the White House has declined to make any comments regarding the pardon request or its potential outcomes.
As the situation develops, the implications of this request for Bankman-Fried and the broader context of the legal and political ramifications remain to be seen.
