Overview
- Justice Department records published Monday, June 8, 2026, show the Office of the Pardon Attorney opened a clemency file for Bankman-Fried listed as a “pardon after completion of sentence.”
- Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year federal sentence handed down in March 2024 after a 2023 conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges tied to FTX’s collapse.
- From prison he told Fox Business he “absolutely” wants a presidential pardon, and his parents have publicly lobbied contacts in Trump’s orbit though any direct White House talks remain unclear.
- Federal judges rejected his bid for a new trial and his direct appeal is active before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, leaving the appeal and the pardon petition as his main remaining legal avenues.
- The pardon filing is a routine procedural step that does not signal presidential approval, and it raises political and symbolic questions given the president’s record of crypto-era clemencies and his prior statement that he did not plan to pardon Bankman-Fried.