Sam Bankman-Fried’s Parents Seek Trump Pardon for Convicted Crypto Mogul
Sam Bankman-Fried said in a recent interview, in what might be the understatement of 2022.Photograph: Tom Williams/Getty Images
NEW YORK—The parents of convicted cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried are reportedly exploring ways to secure a presidential pardon for their son, including potential appeals to President Donald Trump, according to an exclusive Bloomberg report.
Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, both Stanford Law School professors, have spent recent weeks consulting lawyers and figures with ties to Trump about possible avenues for clemency, sources told Bloomberg.
Bankman-Fried, once a rising star in the cryptocurrency world, is currently serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of defrauding investors in his FTX cryptocurrency exchange, which collapsed in 2022 in one of the largest financial fraud cases in history.
Trump’s aggressive use of his pardon powers since returning to office—most notably for more than 1,500 Jan. 6 defendants and high-profile figures like Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht—has fueled hope among white-collar criminals that they, too, could receive presidential mercy.
“In seeking Trump’s mercy, Bankman-Fried—who went from industry darling to villain overnight—would be appealing to a man who went from crypto skeptic to booster,” Bloomberg reported. The report also noted that the cryptocurrency and libertarian communities strongly pushed for Ulbricht’s pardon, which Trump granted. However, Bankman-Fried lacks the same groundswell of support.
His defense team has argued that his “draconian” sentence is excessive, particularly since most FTX customers have recovered their losses. Legal experts say a surge of white-collar defendants are now hoping to benefit from Trump’s willingness to issue pardons.
“We have been hearing from people in prison, from people recently sentenced who haven’t reported to the Bureau of Prisons yet, from people who have been indicted,” said Jeffrey Grant, who runs a New York advisory firm for white-collar defendants. “They are looking for somebody who knows somebody.”
Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz, a former Trump attorney, confirmed that he has received calls seeking similar assistance. “I said call me back in a month,” Dershowitz told Bloomberg. “Right now Trump is busy doing other things.”
Despite these efforts, it remains unclear whether Trump would be willing to use his pardon power for Bankman-Fried, who has not been publicly embraced by pro-Trump factions. Neither Bankman-Fried’s parents nor his legal team commented on the report. The White House also declined to address whether the convicted fraudster is being considered for clemency.
