FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Gets 100-0 Senate Vote Against Any Pardon or Clemency

Sam Bankman-Fried’s bid for a presidential pardon just ran into a wall — and the wall was unanimous. The US Senate passed a resolution on Wednesday declaring that the convicted FTX founder should “under no circumstances” receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation of his 25-year prison sentence. The vote was 100-0.

The resolution, formally designated S. Res. 772, was agreed to by unanimous consent and affirms the Senate’s commitment to the rule of law and the integrity of the US financial system. 

Here’s How Sam Bankman-Fried Got Here 

Bankman-Fried, 34, was convicted in November 2023 on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy after a trial that revealed he had used billions in customer funds from FTX to cover losses at his trading arm Alameda Research, fund political donations, purchase luxury real estate in the Bahamas, and bankroll a lifestyle built on other people’s money. A federal judge sentenced him to 25 years in March 2024. 

In November 2022, FTX collapsed in one of the most dramatic financial failures in the history of the crypto industry. Virtually overnight, it wiped out billions of dollars in customer funds and triggered a crisis of confidence that rippled across the entire sector.

Rather than using his time in prison to cooperate with efforts to make victims whole, Sam Bankman-Fried has reportedly continued to maintain his innocence and lobby for clemency — most recently petitioning for a presidential pardon. 

That campaign prompted Senators Ruben Gallego of Arizona and Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming to introduce the resolution in mid-June, making it the first formal congressional effort to block any potential executive intervention in his case.

The Senators Behind The Resolution 

Senator Gallego was blunt when the resolution was first introduced, calling Bankman-Fried a criminal who stole the savings of “millions of Americans” and has shown no remorse — instead claiming to be a victim of what he described as lawfare. Gallego said he should stay locked up.

Senator Lummis echoed that statement, arguing that Sam Bankman-Fried did not simply lose other people’s money — he stole it and used it to fund a lavish lifestyle. 

Lummis further noted in her statement back last month that Sam Bankman-Fried had his day in court, a jury did not believe him, and a judge sentenced him to 25 years for a reason. A pardon, she made clear, was something she had no interest in supporting.

President Trump has previously issued pardons to individuals convicted of crypto-related offenses, including the co-founders of the BitMEX exchange, and Binance’s former CEO, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), a pattern that crypto critics have as evidence of preferential treatment for industry insiders. 

Featured image generated with OpenArt.