Trump confirms he won't pardon Sam Bankman-Fried

President Donald Trump has made it clear he will not be issuing a pardon to Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency executive now serving 25 years behind bars for his part in the FTX exchange collapse.

Trump told The New York Times in an interview Thursday that he has no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried. The president also ruled out pardons for music producer Sean Combs and former New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez. Bankman-Fried, often called by his initials SBF, has been locked up since August 2023 after a federal judge took away his bail ahead of his criminal trial.

During the same conversation, Trump responded to questions about possible conflicts of interest involving the cryptocurrency business. The president and members of his family have ties to American Bitcoin, a company that mines Bitcoin, and World Liberty Financial, which runs the USD1 stablecoin. Trump also has his own digital token called Official Trump, currently trading at $5.36.

“I got a lot of votes because I backed crypto, and I got to like it,” Trump said.

A judge handed Bankman-Fried his 25-year prison term in March 2024 after a jury found him guilty on seven felony charges. Those charges related to how customer money was mishandled at FTX. Two other former executives got shorter sentences after they made deals with prosecutors. Caroline Ellison, who ran Alameda Research, and Ryan Salame, who was co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, both received less time.

Some reports indicated that Bankman-Fried might have tried to get a pardon from Trump by claiming he had a “good relationship” with Republicans and getting close to conservative personalities like Tucker Carlson. On Polymarket, people betting on whether Trump would pardon SBF before 2027 only put the odds at 6%.

Trump has given pardons to other people connected to the crypto world. In January, soon after he started his term, he pardoned Ross Ulbricht, who founded the Silk Road marketplace. Trump also surprised many in October by pardoning Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, who used to run Binance and served four months in prison. Trump later said he did not know Zhao.

Legal options still open

Even though a pardon from Trump is off the table, Bankman-Fried still has ways to challenge his conviction and sentence through the courts.

In November, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit listened to arguments from SBF’s lawyers who want to overturn the former CEO’s conviction. As of Thursday, the court had not posted any decision to the public record, but a ruling is expected at some point. If the appeals court says no, Bankman-Fried could take one final shot by asking the Supreme Court to review his case.

Caroline Ellison, who got two years in prison, is set to walk free on January 21. Records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons show she was moved in October from a correctional facility in Danbury, Connecticut to an office in New York City that helps inmates transition back into society.

Prediction market shows long odds

Sean Combs, the music producer, is polling at just 8% on Kalshi after Trump explicitly said he wouldn’t pardon him. Bob Menendez isn’t doing much better, the former New Jersey senator sits at 13%, another name Trump ruled out for clemency.

Roger Ver, who goes by “Bitcoin Jesus,” shows up at 18% on the market. Sam Bankman-Fried is way down at 4%.

The prediction market also tracks some other big names Trump didn’t mention in Thursday’s interview. NYC Mayor Eric Adams is at 17%, Edward Snowden at 16%, and Steve Bannon at 15%.

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