Sam Bankman-Fried Praises Trump’s Iran Strikes in Bid for Presidential Pardon

FTX, once one of the world's three largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed into bankruptcy in November 2022, leaving customers with losses of more than $8 billion. Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced by a U.S. court in March 2024 to 25 years in prison for multiple counts of financial fraud. One of the largest financial fraud cases in U.S. history, it has become a major turning point for global digital-asset regulation and investor protection.

The U.S. Senate unanimously adopted Resolution 772, or S.Res.772, on July 15, 2026, strongly opposing any presidential pardon or sentence commutation for Bankman-Fried. The resolution's passage without objection reflects the seriousness with which lawmakers from both parties view the case. He is currently not due for release before 2044, and former President Donald Trump has publicly said he has no intention of granting clemency.

The United States marked the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 2026, prompting the White House to discuss a “250 years, 250 pardons” plan. The proposal could affect the Justice Department's pardon process and the boundaries of criminal liability for developers of crypto privacy tools. Trump had previously pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, known as CZ, and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht.

The Atlantic reported on June 29 that Washington intermediaries were charging $1 million to $2 million to help people secure a place on the list. The founders of Samourai Wallet and Tornado Cash are seeking pardons. Trump pardoned 11 people on July 3, but the White House has yet to release a list of 250 names. He has separately ruled out pardoning FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in November 2022, and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, was accused of misappropriating about $8 billion in customer funds. A federal jury in New York convicted him in November 2023, and a court sentenced him to 25 years in prison on March 28, 2024. The prosecution became a landmark case in the U.S. crackdown on major financial fraud.

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren are preparing a nonbinding joint resolution calling on the president not to pardon Bankman-Fried or commute his sentence. They warned that granting executive clemency to the former FTX chief, who misappropriated billions of dollars in customer assets, would undermine judicial accountability and the deterrence of financial crime.