Summary
- The U.S. Senate has passed a resolution unanimously asserting that Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, should not receive any form of clemency, including a pardon or commutation.
- This bipartisan initiative was spearheaded by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Rubén Gallego (D-AZ), leaders of the Banking Committee's digital assets subcommittee.
- The resolution is symbolic and does not restrict the president's authority to grant pardons; Bankman-Fried, who was convicted in 2023, is not eligible for release until 2044.
The U.S. Senate has unanimously resolved that Sam Bankman-Fried should not be granted clemency, passing a resolution on Wednesday stating that the convicted FTX founder must "under no circumstances" receive a pardon or a reduction of his 25-year sentence.
Agreed to by unanimous consent: S. Res. 772, A resolution expressing the sense of the #Senate that under no circumstances should Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation, and affirming the Senate's commitment to the rule of law and…
— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) July 15, 2026
This resolution, S. Res. 772, was passed without objection, which is a procedure allowing a resolution to be approved as long as no senator voices disapproval. Besides addressing Bankman-Fried, it reaffirmed the Senate's dedication to "the rule of law and the integrity of the United States financial system."
As a nonbinding resolution, it has no legal effect and cannot limit the president's constitutional authority to provide clemency.
A Rare Bipartisan Agreement
The resolution was introduced by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Rubén Gallego (D-AZ), the leading Republican and Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee's digital assets subcommittee, who brought it forward on June 17. Lummis, a significant proponent of cryptocurrency in Congress, remarked that Bankman-Fried "had his day in court." Gallego took a more direct approach, stating, "Keep him locked up."
A spokesperson for Lummis' office previously informed Decrypt that, “SBF has clearly ramped up his pardon campaign and Senator Lummis wants Fried to know she and her colleagues think he’s right where he belongs.”
Fewer Chances for Freedom
The Senate vote coincides with Bankman-Fried's ongoing attempts to find a way to secure his release. He lost his recent appeal when a federal court upheld his fraud conviction last month, and President Donald Trump stated in January that he does not intend to pardon him.
While Trump has been open to granting clemency to other crypto figures, such as Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao, BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, he has chosen not to extend the same to Bankman-Fried.
Collapse of FTX
A jury found Bankman-Fried guilty in November 2023 on seven counts related to the 2022 collapse of FTX, which was once among the largest cryptocurrency exchanges globally. He received a 25-year prison sentence, with prosecutors labeling it one of the most significant financial frauds in U.S. history after American customers suffered losses exceeding $8 billion.
With opposition from the courts, the White House, and now the Senate, Bankman-Fried's avenues for appeal are diminishing—leaving his expected release date around 2044 as his most probable outcome.