US President Donald Trump has no plans to pardon former FTX chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, according to remarks reported by The New York Times.
In a Thursday interview with the Times, Trump said he had no intention of granting pardons to Bankman-Fried or other high-profile figures, including music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs and former New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez. Bankman-Fried has been incarcerated since August 2023, when a federal judge revoked his bail ahead of his criminal trial related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
Trump pushes back on crypto conflict questions
During the interview, Trump also rejected suggestions that his administration faces conflicts of interest stemming from ties to the cryptocurrency industry. Trump and members of his family have been linked to several crypto-related ventures, including the Bitcoin mining firm American Bitcoin, the platform behind the USD1 stablecoin World Liberty Financial, and Trump’s personal memecoin, Official Trump.
“I got a lot of votes because I backed crypto, and I got to like it,” Trump told the Times, defending his pro-crypto stance.
SBF sentence and failed pardon hopes
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024 after being convicted on seven felony counts tied to the misuse of customer funds at FTX. Other former executives received lighter sentences after cooperating with prosecutors, including former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame.
Following his conviction, reports suggested Bankman-Fried attempted to position himself for a potential pardon by emphasizing Republican ties and engaging with right-wing media figures such as Tucker Carlson. Despite those efforts, prediction market Polymarket recently showed only a 6% probability that Trump would pardon SBF before 2027.
Trump has previously granted pardons connected to the crypto world. Shortly after taking office, he pardoned Ross Ulbricht, founder of the Silk Road marketplace, and later issued a pardon for former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who served a four-month sentence.
Appeal remains SBF’s remaining option
With a presidential pardon off the table, Bankman-Fried’s remaining path lies in the courts. In November, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit heard arguments from his legal team seeking to overturn his conviction and sentence. A decision has not yet been issued.
If the appeal is denied, Bankman-Fried’s final legal option would be to seek review by the Supreme Court of the United States.
Meanwhile, Ellison, who was sentenced to two years in prison, is scheduled for release on Jan. 21. Records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show she was transferred in October to a Residential Reentry Management field office in New York City as she transitions toward the end of her sentence.
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