Summary
- Senators Rubén Gallego (D-AZ) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who lead the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets, have unveiled a resolution opposing any presidential pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried.
- This non-binding resolution brands the FTX founder as a defiant fraudster and dismisses his assertion of being politically persecuted.
- The move comes after Bankman-Fried submitted a formal request for a pardon this month, despite former President Trump having already dismissed the idea of clemency.
A bipartisan coalition of senators is taking steps to officially express Congress's opposition to any clemency for Sam Bankman-Fried, as the imprisoned founder of FTX seeks a presidential pardon.
On Wednesday, Senators Rubén Gallego (D-AZ) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY)—the leading Democrat and Republican on the Senate Banking Subcommittee on Digital Assets—introduced a resolution that asserts Bankman-Fried should not be granted a pardon, commutation, or any form of federal clemency. "Keep him locked up," stated Gallego.
Gallego emphasized that Bankman-Fried displayed “no remorse” for his actions, while Lummis, a prominent advocate for cryptocurrency, echoed this sentiment, arguing that Bankman-Fried had his opportunity to defend himself in court and is now "pursuing clemency he hasn't earned" instead of owning up to his wrongdoing.
Bankman-Fried and the FTX Collapse
Bankman-Fried's downfall followed the collapse of FTX in November 2022, culminating in a unanimous guilty verdict on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in November 2023, leading to a 25-year prison sentence and an $11 billion forfeiture mandated by Judge Lewis Kaplan in March 2024.
The fallout from FTX resulted in losses exceeding $8 billion for its customers, making it one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. The resolution firmly rejects Bankman-Fried's claim of political persecution and upholds the jury's verdict.
Bankman-Fried’s Pardon Request
The senators' intervention follows Bankman-Fried's recent formal petition to the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney for a "pardon after completion of sentence," a request that is still pending. Just prior to this, the Second Circuit upheld his conviction and sentence, meaning he won't be eligible for release until 2044.
Former President Trump has ruled out granting clemency to Bankman-Fried, stating in January to the New York Times that he has no intention of doing so. Nevertheless, the resolution indicates concerns that the possibility for clemency might still arise, given that Trump has previously pardoned several individuals in the crypto space, including Silk Road's Ross Ulbricht, BitMEX's Arthur Hayes and Ben Delo, and Binance's Changpeng Zhao.
Throughout his imprisonment, Bankman-Fried has maintained his innocence and sought relief—facing bipartisan criticism along the way, including from Lummis when Bankman-Fried's X account began promoting a crypto market-structure bill. Prediction markets currently suggest the likelihood of a pardon remains in the single digits.