Sam Bankman-Fried, serving a 25-year federal sentence for fraud, has used prison-approved intermediaries to publicly back President Trump's Iran strikes and a series of administration policy positions, in what observers widely interpret as a sustained campaign for a presidential pardon.
The effort has attracted vocal opposition from pro-crypto Republican lawmakers - and two public rejections from Trump himself.
Writing through a proxy on X, Bankman-Fried praised the Iran military operation as necessary to counter nuclear risk. In earlier posts, he credited Trump with "saving" the SEC through the appointment of Paul Atkins and argued that gas prices were lower under Trump than Biden.
He also praised Trump's Truth Social platform and criticized Democratic approaches to content moderation.
Bipartisan Congressional Opposition
The campaign has generated unusually unified pushback. Sen. Bernie Moreno (R-OH), a crypto advocate, told Politico: "The guy shouldn't be pardoned. He should go to jail for a long, long time."
Sen. Cynthia Lummis, the Senate's leading crypto voice, said she hoped Trump was not "falling for it." Rep. Mike Flood of Nebraska expressed public disbelief.
The resistance from lawmakers who spent years building credibility on crypto policy reflects concern that a Bankman-Fried pardon would damage the sector's political standing.
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White House Rejection
Trump told the New York Times in January 2026 he has no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried. A White House spokesperson reiterated that position to Fortune in February, saying the president's stance had not changed.
That stands in contrast to other crypto-adjacent clemency cases: Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht on his second day in office, issued pardons to three BitMEX co-founders in March 2025, and granted a full pardon to former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao.
Bankman-Fried's lawyers separately filed a motion for a new trial in February 2026, which prosecutors opposed.
His FTX empire, meanwhile, is in the final stages of unwinding - the FTX Recovery Trust distributed approximately $2.2 billion to creditors earlier this month, achieving near-full repayment for several claim classes.
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