Trump Declines to Pardon Sam Bankman-Fried Amid Crypto Controversy

Former President Donald Trump confirmed on Thursday that he will not pardon Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, signaling a clear separation between his pro-cryptocurrency stance and one of the sector’s most notorious fraud cases.

Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy for allegedly defrauding FTX customers of billions. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and is currently appealing both the conviction and sentence.

Reports indicate that Bankman-Fried’s parents explored avenues for a presidential pardon in January of last year, meeting with lawyers and influential figures close to Trump. This came shortly after Trump had used his pardon powers to free Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder, who had been serving a life sentence since 2015.

Trump’s approach to cryptocurrency figures has been selective. Throughout 2025, he granted clemency to several prominent players, including the founders of BitMEX and Binance’s Changpeng Zhao. White House spokeswoman Carolyn Leavitt framed these actions as an exercise of constitutional authority, citing prosecutions under the Biden administration as part of a "war on cryptocurrencies".

In Thursday’s interview with The New York Times, Trump emphasized that his family’s expanding business interests in cryptocurrency posed no conflict during his presidency. He defended his administration’s support for digital assets, stating that it was both politically strategic and crucial in competing with China for global crypto dominance. He added, "I got a lot of votes because I supported cryptocurrencies, and I liked them. China wanted them, and one of us had to get them".

The decision not to pardon Bankman-Fried underscores Trump’s attempt to balance a pro-crypto agenda with the optics of accountability in one of the industry’s most high-profile fraud cases, highlighting the complex intersection of politics, regulation, and digital finance.