Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has applied for a pardon from President Trump, according to online records.
A jury convicted Mr. Bankman-Fried of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in 2023 after federal prosecutors accused him of stealing billions of dollars from customers of FTX, which went bankrupt. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, a division of the Justice Department, listed Mr. Bankman-Fried’s request for a “pardon after completion of sentence” as “pending.” The request was filed this year. No further details were available.
The official application is Mr. Bankman-Fried’s latest attempt in a long-shot bid to seek a pardon from Mr. Trump.
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s supporters and his parents have campaigned to convince the president, including working with a lawyer with presidential ties and reaching out to other well-connected people in Washington. Mr. Bankman-Fried’s father has publicly praised Mr. Trump’s policies, and Mr. Bankman-Fried sat for a jailhouse interview with Tucker Carlson, then a Trump ally, last year.
A spokeswoman for the Justice Department said that anyone can apply for a pardon, and that the president makes the final decision on those requests. The White House pointed to Mr. Trump’s remarks, made earlier this year, in which he said he had no intention of pardoning Mr. Bankman-Fried. Bloomberg earlier reported the news of the application.
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s parents and one of his lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Mr. Bankman-Fried, once a top Democratic donor, became the public face of the cryptocurrency industry after founding FTX in 2019. He pitched himself as a responsible businessman in an industry trying to achieve mainstream respectability.
But the founder was arrested in 2022 after the collapse of his company and a run on its accounts. The government accused Mr. Bankman-Fried of stealing money from FTX customers and spending it on political contributions, investments and real estate.
The 34-year-old has appealed his conviction. In a 2024 filing, his lawyer criticized decisions made by the judge who oversaw Mr. Bankman-Fried’s case, which she said had stacked the deck against his defense.
David McCabe is a Times reporter who covers the complex legal and policy issues created by the digital economy and new technologies.
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