Senate Passes Unanimous Resolution Opposing Pardon for FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried

The Senate approved a resolution on Wednesday declaring that Sam Bankman-Fried should “under no circumstances” receive executive clemency, directly opposing the FTX founder’s request for President Donald Trump to commute or pardon his sentence.

The measure, S. Res. 772, passed by unanimous consent, expresses the Senate’s stance that Bankman-Fried should receive neither a pardon nor a commutation, while affirming the chamber’s commitment to “the rule of law and integrity of the United States financial system.”

This nonbinding resolution does not restrict the president’s constitutional authority to grant clemency.

Senators Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, and Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat, introduced the measure. Both serve as the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee. They introduced the resolution on June 17, following Bankman-Fried’s formal pardon application filed with the Justice Department.

Lummis, a leading advocate for the cryptocurrency industry in Congress, has consistently pushed to retain one of the sector’s most prominent figures in prison. “He had his day in court,” she stated when introducing the resolution alongside Galleme. Gallego concluded his remarks with four words: “Keep him locked up.”

The resolution notes that Bankman-Fried’s 25-year sentence “reflects the extraordinary scale and deliberateness of his crimes, his lack of remorse, and the catastrophic harm inflicted upon millions of victims.”

Bankman-Fried’s Attempts to Secure Release from Prison

Bankman-Fried, 34, submitted his petition on June 8. His application seeks a “pardon after completion of sentence,” a form of clemency that would not erase his conviction but would restore civil rights such as voting and jury service, and remove barriers to licensing, employment, and housing after he leaves prison.

He is not eligible for release until approximately 2044.

Trump previously stated in a January interview that he had no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried. During his second term, the president has granted clemency to other individuals connected to cryptocurrency and online markets, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, along with other white-collar offenders.

A jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven counts related to the collapse of FTX, a case prosecutors described as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. American customers lost more than $8 billion. A judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison in 2024.

Bankman-Fried operated two companies simultaneously. FTX was a cryptocurrency exchange that holds customer money like a broker and is not permitted to spend it. Alameda Research was a trading firm he owned.

He transferred billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits to Alameda, which used the funds for trades, venture investments, political donations, and Bahamian real estate. FTX’s software exempted Alameda from the rules that would have required it to cover its losses like any other trader.

The arrangement collapsed when Alameda’s balance sheet was revealed, showing that much of what the firm counted as assets was FTT, a token FTX created and could issue at will. The collateral backing Alameda was effectively an asset its sister company had invented. Binance announced within days that it would sell its FTT holdings, causing the token’s price to plummet.

Customers rushed to withdraw their deposits, and FTX could not return the money because it was no longer available. The exchange filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022.

CoinDesk was the first to report on FTX’s questionable balance sheets.

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