OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
6:12 PM – Monday, June 8, 2026
Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has officially filed a petition seeking a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump.
According to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Office of the Pardon Attorney database, the 34-year-old’s application has been formally submitted and its status is currently listed as “pending.” The move represents a bid for clemency from a man who was once the celebrated “whiz kid” of the crypto industry before orchestrating one of the largest financial fraud schemes in American history.
Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year federal prison sentence at the low-security Federal Correctional Institution, following his November 2023 conviction on seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering conspiracy.
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that Bankman-Fried secretly diverted billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to his personal hedge fund, Alameda Research, using the stolen capital to fund highly speculative investments, real estate acquisitions, and massive political donations. Publicly, he was one of the largest donors to the Democrat Party, spending roughly $40 million during the 2022 election cycle to support liberal groups and left-wing candidates.
However, his “empire” completely unraveled in late 2022 when a wave of customer withdrawals prompted a multi-billion-dollar liquidity crisis, forcing FTX into a chaotic bankruptcy.
The clemency application filed with the DOJ is formatted as a “pardon after completion of sentence.” Rather than immediately expunging his record or ordering an early release from his current projected release date of June 17, 2044, this specific type of petition focuses on “restoring core civil liberties,” such as the right to vote or serve on a jury, and lifting regulatory barriers to future employment, housing, and professional licensing once his prison term concludes.
Nonetheless, the exact timing of the submission and whether Bankman-Fried intends to supplement it with a request for a commutation of his remaining prison time remains a subject of curiosity for analysts who have kept up with his case. In an interview from federal prison, Bankman-Fried confirmed his desire for White House intervention, stating “absolutely” when asked if he wanted a presidential pardon.
During the interview, he continued to defend his past actions, arguing that his prosecution was unjust because ongoing bankruptcy proceedings have managed to recover asset values — bolstered by a surging cryptocurrency market and the liquidation of early artificial intelligence investments — allowing the FTX estate to pay back creditors roughly 170% of their original platform deposits.
Securing a pardon may prove to be a steep uphill battle for the former crypto mogul, given his political history and previous public statements from the president and administration officials. Trump stated in a January interview with the New York Times that he had no intention of granting clemency to Bankman-Fried.
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