US Senate Unanimously Opposes Any Pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried After FTX Fraud
The U.S. Senate on July 15 unanimously approved S.Res. 772, a bipartisan resolution declaring that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried should not receive a presidential pardon, commutation or any other form of federal executive clemency. The measure, introduced on June 17 by Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), was approved by unanimous consent after being discharged from the Senate Judiciary Committee.
The resolution argues that granting executive clemency would weaken deterrence against large-scale financial crimes, erode confidence in U.S. financial markets and send the wrong message to the millions of victims affected by FTX’s collapse. It reaffirms the Senate’s commitment to the rule of law and equal accountability under the justice system.
Lawmakers used the resolution to reaffirm the integrity of the federal criminal justice process that convicted Bankman-Fried. He was convicted on seven criminal counts, including wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud and money laundering conspiracy, and sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024. The Senate rejected Bankman-Fried’s characterization of the prosecution as “lawfare,” stating that his conviction resulted from a unanimous jury verdict and sentencing by an independent federal judge.
Bankman-Fried has spent months pursuing executive clemency. In June, he formally submitted a petition to the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney seeking a “pardon after completion of sentence.” Before filing, he sought to build support by praising President Donald Trump on social media and giving a jailhouse interview to Tucker Carlson. However, there is no public indication that the White House is actively considering clemency, and Trump previously told The New York Times he did not intend to pardon the former crypto executive.
According to the resolution, Bankman-Fried secretly diverted billions of dollars in customer assets from FTX to Alameda Research, contributing to one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. FTX customers lost more than $8 billion, equity investors more than $1.7 billion, and Alameda lenders more than $1.3 billion. Although S.Res. 772 is nonbinding and cannot prevent a president from exercising clemency powers, it establishes a unanimous Senate position against granting relief to Bankman-Fried.