Key Highlights
- Trump will not pardon Sam Bankman-Fried, excluding him from clemency for FTX-related crimes.
- SBF was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 after being found guilty on multiple fraud charges.
- Ex-Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison moved to community confinement after 11 months of her two-year sentence.
The U.S. President Donald Trump has made it clear that he will not consider a pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the former CEO of the failed crypto exchange FTX, who is serving a 25-year sentence for fraud and related crimes tied to the platform’s collapse.
Speaking in an interview with The New York Times, Trump said Bankman-Fried is among several high-profile figures he has decided not to grant clemency. While many names had been suggested to him, Bankman-Fried was explicitly excluded, and Trump said he has no intention of pardoning SBF or anyone closely tied to the FTX case.
The rise and fall of FTX
SBF was one of the most influential figures in the crypto space. He founded FTX in 2019, which became one of the largest crypto platforms in the world.
That image fell apart in November 2022 when FTX ran out of funds unexpectedly. It was revealed that the funds had been secretly transferred to a firm owned by Bankman-Fried called Alameda Research for betting purposes. This harmed millions of people who were unable to access their money.
In 2023, he was found guilty by a U.S. federal jury of various charges related to fraud. In 2024, he received a prison sentence of 25 years for his crime, which is among the most publicized cases in the history of the crypto market.
Meanwhile, other former FTX executives have received lighter punishment. In December, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, a key witness in the case, was transferred out of a U.S. federal prison after serving about 11 months of her two-year sentence.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons said she was moved to community confinement, such as a halfway house or home detention, as part of the pre-release process ahead of her expected 2026 release.
SBF pardon speculation
Bankman-Fried appeared in media interviews that some saw as efforts to rebuild his public image. Speculation about a possible pardon had resurfaced last year.
In March 2025, a new interview with Bankman-Fried with Tucker Carlson was released, in which he spoke about his life in prison. The report also said his parents had been speaking with lawyers and people connected to Trump’s circle in hopes of securing a pardon.
Recently, he also reacted publicly on social media after Trump pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, a move that further fueled debate about whether SBF was trying to position himself for clemency.
Trump’s stance appears firmer in light of his past actions. In October, he issued a full pardon to Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, the founder and former CEO of Binance, after Zhao completed a four-month prison sentence for violating U.S. anti-money-laundering laws.
That decision sparked controversy and raised questions about Trump’s approach to crypto-related convictions. On the Polymarket prediction market, traders currently give Bankman‑Fried only about a 5% chance of being pardoned by President Trump before 2027.
Trump and crypto industry ties
In the same interview, Trump also responded to questions about his ties to the crypto industry. He said he does not see a conflict of interest.
Trump and his family are linked to several crypto projects, including a Bitcoin mining company, a stablecoin platform, and his own memecoin. “I got a lot of votes because I backed crypto, and I got to like it,” Trump shared.
Despite past pardons for other figures, Trump has made clear that Bankman-Fried will not receive similar treatment. He also said he does not plan to pardon other figures such as music executive Sean “Diddy” Combs, former U.S. senator Robert Menendez, and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.
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