Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX and hedge fund Alameda Research, has submitted a formal request for a presidential pardon from US President Donald Trump, according to a report by Bloomberg citing records from the US Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney.
The filing, which is listed as “pending,” comes as Bankman-Fried continues to serve a 25-year prison sentence following his conviction on multiple fraud and conspiracy charges related to the implosion of FTX and Alameda Research.
Once one of the most prominent figures in the cryptocurrency industry, Bankman-Fried built FTX into a major global exchange before its rapid collapse in late 2022 amid a liquidity crisis and revelations of extensive misuse of customer funds.
A federal jury in New York found him guilty in November 2023 on seven counts, including fraud, embezzlement and conspiracy. He has since filed an appeal against the conviction.
The case marked one of the most high-profile criminal prosecutions in the digital asset sector, involving allegations that billions of dollars in customer assets were improperly transferred between FTX and Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried’s proprietary trading firm.
Despite his conviction, Bankman-Fried has now formally sought clemency. However, Trump previously stated in an interview that he did not intend to grant a pardon to the former crypto executive.
Since returning to office, Trump has issued a series of pardons to various white-collar defendants, including several high-profile financial crime cases, but Bankman-Fried’s request has so far not been approved.
Bankman-Fried, widely known by his initials SBF, rose to prominence as a young crypto entrepreneur, becoming a billionaire before the age of 30 and positioning FTX as one of the largest exchanges in the world prior to its collapse.
