Sam Bankman-Fried seeks pardon from Trump after bankrolling Democrats and losing $10B fraud case

Sam Bankman-Fried has formally asked President Trump for a get-out-of-jail card.

The disgraced FTX founder, once one of the Democratic Party’s biggest financial backers, has applied for a presidential pardon more than two years after he was convicted over the spectacular collapse of his cryptocurrency empire, Bloomberg News reported.

Bankman-Fried, 34, submitted an application to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney seeking a “pardon after completion of sentence,” according to government records.

The filing marks the clearest sign yet that the former crypto billionaire is pursuing executive clemency after spending months publicly courting conservatives and praising Trump while serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Bankman-Fried was sentenced in March 2024 after a jury convicted him of orchestrating a massive fraud tied to the collapse of FTX, once one of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges.

Federal prosecutors accused him of stealing billions of dollars from customers, lenders and investors to plug losses at hedge fund Alameda Research and bankroll a lavish lifestyle, venture investments and political donations.

His pardon request comes despite Trump saying earlier this year that he had no plans to grant clemency to the fallen crypto executive.

In January of last year, Bloomberg News reported that Bankman-Fried’s parents — Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried — were exploring ways to obtain a pardon for their son.

But the likelihood of success appeared to be slim despite Bankman-Fried repeatedly heaping praise on Trump while accusing the Biden Justice Department of political persecution.

“The guy’s a piece of s–t,” Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-Ohio) told Politico earlier this year when asked about a possible pardon.

“The guy shouldn’t be pardoned. The guy should go to jail for a long, long time.”

A spokesperson for the White House and Bankman-Fried did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The pardon push represents a remarkable turn for a figure who became one of the most prominent donors in Democratic politics during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles.

Before FTX imploded in November 2022, Bankman-Fried poured millions into Democratic candidates, party committees and left-leaning political organizations, becoming a fixture in Washington power circles.

He was a major donor to Democratic-aligned super PAC Protect Our Future, which spent heavily in congressional primaries, and gave more than $5 million to groups supporting then-candidate Joe Biden in 2020.

Bankman-Fried also donated to Democratic Party committees and state Democratic organizations while cultivating relationships with lawmakers and regulators in Washington.

His mother, Barbara Fried, helped found Mind the Gap, a Democratic donor network that became influential in progressive fundraising circles.

His brother, Gabriel Bankman-Fried, ran pandemic-preparedness advocacy efforts that frequently worked with Democratic lawmakers and aligned policy groups.

After FTX collapsed, federal prosecutors alleged that more than $100 million in political contributions were funded with misappropriated customer money and routed through straw donors to influence politicians across the political spectrum.

Bankman-Fried later claimed he had given substantial sums to Republicans as well, often through less-public channels, though his public political profile remained closely associated with Democratic causes.

The former billionaire has increasingly sought support from conservative media figures and Trump allies while pursuing avenues for relief from his conviction.