In a one-of-a-kind show of complete bipartisan consensus, the United States Senate has given a very clear signal about the fate of disgraced founder of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried. On Wednesday, legislators passed a nonbinding resolution which firmly states that the doomed crypto businessman should “not be given a pardon, commutation, or any kind of executive clemency.” The move comes as Bankman-Fried desperately seeks a get-out-of-jail-free card, months after President Donald Trump pardoned other prominent figures in the digital asset space.
A Unified Stance Against Leniency
The resolution cleared the floor by unanimous consent, a fast-track procedure that only succeeds if not a single senator raises an objection. The charge was led by Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, and Senator Ruben Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona. These senators are important actors in the Senate Banking Committee’s committee dealing with digital assets who wrote the bill to show the government is still concerned about preserving the integrity of the financial system. After the bill was passed, Gallego said, “Keep him locked up,” while Lummis argued that Bankman-Fried had already been tried in court and should be punished.
The Desperate Bid for a Pardon
Even though the Court of Appeals recently rejected his appeal, Bankman-Fried has not given up on searching for a way to gain freedom. In a jail interview, Bankman-Fried stated his desire to receive a pardon from the President, as he declared he did not steal anyone’s funds. He even applied for a pardon officially, and his request is on the table of the Department of Justice. At the same time, legislators do not believe him at all, dismissing his claims about innocence as an obvious strategy to avoid punishment for stealing money from investors.
The Spectacular Collapse of a Crypto Empire
To understand the Senate’s absolute refusal to show mercy, you have to look at the sheer scale of the deception. Bankman-Fried simultaneously ran the FTX cryptocurrency exchange and a private trading firm called Alameda Research. Although FTX aimed to protect consumer funds in the same way as a conventional brokerage firm, he diverted billions of dollars to Alameda without revealing this fact to the public. The transferred funds were then used for dangerous transactions, expensive real estate coups in the Bahamas, and big political contributions while clients remained unaware that their money was at risk.
The House of Cards Crumbles
The complex situation started to unravel in late 2022 when some investigative journalism uncovered several flaws in Alameda’s financial statements. It was revealed that the trading firm was heavily propped up by FTT, a digital token entirely invented and printed at will by FTX itself. When rival exchange Binance announced it would liquidate its FTT holdings, the token’s value plummeted, triggering a massive bank run. Customers scrambled to pull their deposits, but the money was simply gone, forcing the company into a messy bankruptcy within a week.
A Very Different Fate From His Peers
While Bankman-Fried sits in federal prison, other notable cryptocurrency figures have recently tasted freedom. President Trump has granted clemency to Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, among other white-collar offenders. Naturally, this sparked speculation that the FTX founder might also catch a lucky break. However, Trump publicly stated earlier this year that he has no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried. For now, the disgraced founder remains ineligible for release until approximately 2044, and prediction markets currently give him less than a one percent chance of ever securing an executive pardon.
