The Senate delivered a blunt bipartisan warning to President Donald Trump on Wednesday: Keep disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried behind bars.
Senators approved a nonbinding resolution declaring that Bankman-Fried should “under no circumstances” receive executive clemency, including a presidential pardon or commutation.
The measure cleared by unanimous consent, meaning no senator objected. It does not restrict Trump’s constitutional pardon authority but places the entire Senate on record against clemency for the former cryptocurrency billionaire. Senate records confirm the resolution passed without amendment.
“It should not be considered controversial to say that someone like Sam Bankman-Fried — a fraudster who was convicted by a unanimous jury — should not be allowed to walk away scot-free,” Sen. Ruben Gallego, D-Ariz., said in a statement reported by The Hill.
“That’s exactly what the Senate affirmed when they passed my resolution,” Gallego continued. “Bankman-Fried stole billions from hardworking Americans. He’s a criminal who deserves to stay locked up.”
Gallego introduced the resolution with Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo. The two lawmakers are leading members of the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee.
“Sam Bankman-Fried didn’t lose other people’s billions, he took them and used them to fund his lavish lifestyle, and now he wants a presidential pardon to shield him from the consequences of his own actions,” Lummis said when the resolution was introduced.
“He had his day in court,” she continued. “A jury didn’t buy his act, and a judge gave him 25 years for a reason.”
Bankman-Fried formally applied for a presidential pardon in early June, according to records from the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. The application was listed as pending when it became public.
Asked during a prison interview whether he wanted Trump to pardon him, Bankman-Fried answered, “Absolutely.”
“It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me,” he told Fox Business, according to CoinDesk.
The clemency campaign follows a months-long effort by Bankman-Fried to appeal to Trump’s political orbit. His parents reportedly contacted lawyers and other figures with ties to the president, although there is no public evidence that Bankman-Fried has a personal relationship with Trump or that his family held direct talks with White House officials.
Bankman-Fried, once one of the Democratic Party’s biggest donors, has also attempted to recast himself as more sympathetic to Republicans. From prison, he has criticized the Biden-era Justice Department, praised several Trump administration decisions and appeared for an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson.
The Financial Times reported that Bankman-Fried also enlisted Republican strategist Bryan Lanza, a longtime Trump ally, to assist with his pardon campaign.
Trump, however, appeared to close the door in January, telling The New York Times that he did not intend to pardon Bankman-Fried. The president has granted clemency to several prominent figures from the cryptocurrency world, but has so far drawn a distinction between those cases and the massive FTX fraud. CoinDesk reported that Trump said the former executive should not expect presidential relief.
Bankman-Fried’s legal options also narrowed dramatically last month when the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction, 25-year sentence and approximately $11 billion forfeiture order. The court rejected his challenges to the trial judge’s evidentiary decisions, jury instructions and handling of discovery. The appellate ruling described the evidence against him as “conservatively stated, robust.”
Federal prosecutors said Bankman-Fried misappropriated billions of dollars in FTX customer funds to finance risky investments, real estate purchases, political donations and other expenses. He was convicted in 2023 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts and sentenced the following year.
With his conviction upheld and the Senate now unanimously opposing clemency, Bankman-Fried’s campaign for a White House lifeline faces steeper odds than ever.
