Bankman-Fried Eyes Presidential Pardon After Hailing Trump’s Clemency for Ex-Honduran Leader

Sam Bankman-Fried's legal team just got a new playbook—and it's written in presidential ink.

The Strategy Shift

While serving his 25-year sentence, the fallen crypto titan is reportedly studying Donald Trump's controversial pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. Observers note the move signals a pivot from courtroom appeals to political clemency campaigns—a classic Washington endgame where connections often outweigh convictions.

The Pardon Precedent

Trump's last-minute clemency for Hernández, convicted on drug trafficking charges, established a powerful template: executive power can bypass judicial outcomes entirely. For Bankman-Fried, whose FTX collapse vaporized billions, this precedent represents a potential escape hatch—one that doesn't require overturning a single count of fraud.

The Political Calculus

Insiders suggest Bankman-Fried's team is mapping donation patterns and lobbying channels that could make him a compelling clemency case for a future administration. It's the ultimate regulatory arbitrage—trading legal guilt for political utility.

Because in high finance, the best returns sometimes come from investing in politicians, not portfolios.

Former FTX CEO seeks clemency amid 25-year prison sentence

Last month, Bankman-Fried’s case went before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit as the former executive sought a new trial. The court is unlikely to issue an opinion on the possibility of a retrial until well into next year. 

Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, have also been pushed for a pardon following other attempts to pardon high-profile crypto figures — the latest being former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.

Bankman-Fried’s parents, Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, have reportedly been exploring the possibility of securing a presidential pardon for their son from President Donald Trump.

The two, both professors at Stanford Law School and part of FTX’s inner circle, are reportedly engaging with individuals connected to Trump’s inner circle, sources.

Still, Bankman-Fried’s chances of pardon seem slim. He was one of the largest donors to the Biden campaign in 2020, donating $5.2 million to defeat TRUMP at the time.

This allure for a pardon stems from Trump’s recent history of using his clemency powers to free widely supported individuals, such as Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. Unlike Zhao and Ulbricht, however, Bankman-Fried lacks widespread public support, though he argues his sentence is excessively harsh, especially since most FTX customers have recovered their financial losses.

Parents lobby Trump as SBF amplifies social media activity from prison

Bankman-Fried’s FTX, formerly the world’s third-largest cryptocurrency exchange, went bankrupt in November 2022 after a report revealed that the platform’s sister concern, Alameda Research, was on shaky financial footing.

It was later discovered that Alameda used backdoor code to raid billions in customer funds from FTX — an arrangement helmed by Bankman-Fried and other Alameda founding members.

The ex-crypto kingpin was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion following convictions on seven counts of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.

Bankman-Fried’s recent comments come as he navigates a range of legal avenues. His case has recently been heard in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where his lawyers are seeking a new trial. A decision is not due until well into next year, giving him few near-term options.

Still, the Hernández comments fit a pattern. Bankman-Fried has been increasingly online over the past few months, through intermediaries, returning to his version of events surrounding FTX’s collapse. He has said several times in post after post that the exchange was solvent when it filed for bankruptcy and that the existing estates are mishandling or withholding funds.

His renewed presence on X, in turn, embodies an even broader effort to challenge the prevailing narrative surrounding FTX’s collapse. As the bankruptcy proceedings continue and the court has jurisdiction over asset recoveries, Bankman-Fried has taken to social media to assert that customer losses were avoidable.

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