Sam Bankman-Fried, the former cryptocurrency billionaire serving a 25-year sentence for fraud tied to the 2022 collapse of his FTX exchange, says he would welcome a pardon from President Donald Trump — but insists he has not lobbied the White House for one.
“It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me,” Bankman-Fried told FOX Business in an exclusive interview from prison. Asked directly whether he wanted a pardon, he didn’t hesitate: “Absolutely.”
The FTX founder said he has not personally been in contact with the White House or anyone connected to the president. Asked whether his parents or others had reached out on his behalf, he said, “I can’t speak for them.”
FOX Business has reviewed a pardon application filed on Bankman-Fried’s behalf. As it stands, the application seeks clemency only after he finishes serving his sentence.
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The White House, asked for comment, directed FOX Business back to the president’s previous statements that he was not considering a pardon for Bankman-Fried.
‘I didn’t steal user funds’
More than three years after his arrest, Bankman-Fried continues to insist he is innocent. He is appealing his conviction, with a decision pending before the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.
“I didn’t steal user funds,” he said. “Customers have been repaid now 170% or so on their deposits. It’s one of the very few cases where the platform was over-collateralized, where customers were more than made whole. And yet there was, you know, not just a criminal investigation, but a prosecution. And, you know, dozens of years of sentence.”
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Those assertions require context. Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on seven counts — including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering — for diverting billions of dollars in FTX customer funds, and was sentenced to 25 years in 2024.
The FTX bankruptcy estate has said customers are being repaid in full, with reported recoveries of roughly 118% and higher for some classes of claims. But those repayments were calculated using cryptocurrency prices from November 2022, when the market was near its lows. Customers received cash based on those depressed values rather than their original crypto, and did not capture the market’s subsequent rebound. The estate’s reported recovery figures are also lower than the 170% Bankman-Fried cited.
“Ultimately, customers have been repaid again nearly twice what they had on the platform, and it’s a great disservice to them that it has taken three years,” he added.
A divided reaction
The question of clemency has split those who followed the FTX collapse.
Adam Moskowitz, an attorney who represented FTX victims, told FOX Business he would not stand in the way. “I would not oppose granting Sam a pardon,” he said, noting that as co-lead counsel for hundreds of thousands of FTX victims, “one of the first defendants to offer to help out victims was Mr. Bankman-Fried.”
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Others are firmly opposed. Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio, who sits on the Senate Banking Committee, told Politico that Bankman-Fried “shouldn’t be pardoned” and “should go to jail for a long, long time.”
Life behind bars — and a shout-out from Drake
Bankman-Fried described a prison routine of reading, exercise and “other boring activities.” “I’ve read a number of books since I’ve been in prison,” he said. “You know, I exercise some. Obviously, there’s sleep, shower … daily things like that. And frankly, that’s the bulk of it.”
He has also picked up an unlikely supporter. On his new album “Iceman,” rapper Drake name-checks Bankman-Fried in a lyric that fans have read as a call to free the imprisoned founder.
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Bankman-Fried said he was caught off guard. “I’m very flattered. I appreciate it very much,” he said. “Obviously Drake gives some clues in the song itself, but … that’s a question. Unfortunately, I don’t know how to answer for him.”
The two, Bankman-Fried said, have never met.
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