Sam Bankman-Fried files for presidential pardon

Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, has officially filed for a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump. The submission of this petition was confirmed by the official website of the Justice Department’s Pardon Attorney Office, which is the US government body responsible for receiving and reviewing clemency applications. Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence. This federal prison sentence was handed down after he was convicted on fraud and money laundering charges in 2024. The filing of this pardon application was first reported by Bloomberg News.

The pardon request comes as President Trump has issued hundreds of pardons during his second term in office. While a majority of those pardoned were people who participated in the January 6 riot, many others were individuals convicted of financial fraud. An NBC News analysis from January found that more than half of the individual pardons granted by the president were to people who committed white-collar crimes. The analysis specified that these individuals had committed white-collar crimes like money laundering, bank fraud, and wire fraud.

In addition to these cases, President Trump has pardoned a number of people who have donated large sums to his political campaigns. According to reporting from Bloomberg, very few of the individuals pardoned by the president actually filed an official application with the Justice Department’s Pardon Attorney Office. Bankman-Fried, however, has submitted his request through this official government channel. The office is the US government body responsible for receiving and reviewing clemency applications.

Why it matters

The filing highlights the intersection of high-profile white-collar crime and the executive clemency process. Bankman-Fried’s petition tests the application of executive clemency, particularly given the precedent of pardons for financial crimes during the current administration.