Former President Donald Trump slammed the door shut on any possibility of a pardon for disgraced crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Trump made it crystal clear: SBF won’t be getting any clemency. Period. The announcement ends months of swirling speculation in crypto and political circles about whether the fallen FTX founder might catch a break.
Trump lumped Bankman-Fried with other high-profile figures who won’t be seeing presidential mercy, including Sean “Diddy” Combs, Robert Menendez, and Nicolás Maduro. Not exactly elite company to keep.
Trump made it clear: SBF joins Diddy, Menendez, and Maduro in the no-pardon club.
Bankman-Fried’s legal troubles are no joke. He’s currently serving a hefty 25-year federal prison sentence after being convicted of multiple fraud and conspiracy charges in 2023.
The jury found him guilty of misusing billions in FTX customer funds in what prosecutors called one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. He’s been in custody since August 2023, when his bail was revoked ahead of trial.
Sure, his legal team is working the appeals process. They’ve already made arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and might take it all the way to the Supreme Court.
But presidential clemency? Not happening.
Rumors had been persistent. Some reports suggested Bankman-Fried’s parents were exploring clemency avenues, even preparing strategic memoranda and hiring external lawyers.
A “large-scale and well-funded” campaign, according to some sources. Prediction markets initially gave him a 5-6% chance of pardon before 2027, but those odds plummeted after Trump’s explicit rejection.
What’s interesting is Trump’s willingness to pardon other crypto figures. Ross Ulbricht of Silk Road fame got a full pardon in early 2025.
Clemency was also extended to Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and former BitMEX executives.
The difference? Trump doesn’t see Bankman-Fried as a victim of political targeting or overzealous prosecution.
And apparently, bilking customers out of billions crosses a line that even Trump won’t pardon. Tough luck, SBF. Trump has underscored that his support for cryptocurrencies doesn’t mean he’ll interfere with criminal cases in the sector.
Following Trump’s definitive statement, betting odds for SBF’s pardon dropped dramatically from 20% to just 6%, reflecting the market’s acceptance that executive intervention is now off the table.
