Sam Bankman-Fried formally applies for a pardon
Key takeaways
- The FTX CEO was sentenced for fraud in 2024.
- Santiago/Getty Images San Bankman-Fried is continuing his efforts to weasel out of responsibility for his actions as the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
- The White House has been pretty free with pardons, particularly in the crypto space where the Trump family has a business operation of its own; Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was one such beneficiary last year.
The FTX CEO was sentenced for fraud in 2024.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images San Bankman-Fried is continuing his efforts to weasel out of responsibility for his actions as the CEO of cryptocurrency exchange FTX. In 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud charges surrounding the business. Today, Bloomberg reported that Bankman-Fried officially filed a petition seeking a presidential pardon "after completion of sentence," rather than a commutation that would end his jailtime early. He already has filed an appeal to overturn the original ruling against him as well as seeking a re-trial.
The White House has been pretty free with pardons, particularly in the crypto space where the Trump family has a business operation of its own; Binance founder Changpeng Zhao was one such beneficiary last year. In an interview with The New York Times earlier this year, Trump said he had no plan to offer Bankman-Fried a pardon, although he needed to be told by the reporter who the disgraced crypto CEO was.