{"id":32673,"date":"2026-06-08T19:44:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/sam-bankman-fried-asks-trump-for-a-pardon\/"},"modified":"2026-06-08T19:44:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-08T19:44:38","slug":"sam-bankman-fried-asks-trump-for-a-pardon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/08\/sam-bankman-fried-asks-trump-for-a-pardon\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Bankman-Fried asks Trump for a pardon"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-editable=\"content\" itemprop=\"articleBody\" data-reorderable=\"content\">\n<div data-editable=\"aiSummary\" class=\"article__ai-summary-wrapper\">\n<div data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/ai-article-summary\/instances\/cmq5ire6900033b6rj7970zq7@published\" class=\"ai-article-summary hidden  \" data-article-gutter=\"true\" data-selector-brand=\"accent-ai\">\n    <button class=\"ai-article-summary__toggle\"><br \/>\n        <strong class=\"ai-article-summary__title\"><br \/>\n            <span class=\"ai-article-summary__stars-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\">\n    <path d=\"M16.7322 12.6297L14.7237 12.0545C13.8192 11.7989 12.9952 11.315 12.3307 10.6491C11.6662 9.98311 11.1834 9.15741 10.9284 8.25095L10.3544 6.23807C10.3255 6.16765 10.2764 6.10741 10.2133 6.06502C10.1502 6.02263 10.076 6 10 6C9.92403 6 9.84978 6.02263 9.78667 6.06502C9.72357 6.10741 9.67446 6.16765 9.6456 6.23807L9.07163 8.25095C8.81662 9.15741 8.33377 9.98311 7.66926 10.6491C7.00476 11.315 6.18084 11.7989 5.27634 12.0545L3.26781 12.6297C3.19069 12.6516 3.12281 12.6982 3.07448 12.7623C3.02615 12.8264 3 12.9045 3 12.9848C3 13.0652 3.02615 13.1433 3.07448 13.2074C3.12281 13.2715 3.19069 13.3181 3.26781 13.34L5.27634 13.9152C6.18084 14.1708 7.00476 14.6547 7.66926 15.3206C8.33377 15.9866 8.81662 16.8123 9.07163 17.7187L9.6456 19.7316C9.66749 19.8089 9.71393 19.8769 9.77789 19.9254C9.84185 19.9738 9.91983 20 10 20C10.0802 20 10.1581 19.9738 10.2221 19.9254C10.2861 19.8769 10.3325 19.8089 10.3544 19.7316L10.9284 17.7187C11.1834 16.8123 11.6662 15.9866 12.3307 15.3206C12.9952 14.6547 13.8192 14.1708 14.7237 13.9152L16.7322 13.34C16.8093 13.3181 16.8772 13.2715 16.9255 13.2074C16.9738 13.1433 17 13.0652 17 12.9848C17 12.9045 16.9738 12.8264 16.9255 12.7623C16.8772 12.6982 16.8093 12.6516 16.7322 12.6297Z\" fill=\"currentColor\"\/>\n    <path d=\"M19.8852 5.84129L19.0244 5.59477C18.6368 5.48524 18.2837 5.27786 17.9989 4.99245C17.7141 4.70705 17.5072 4.35317 17.3979 3.96469L17.1519 3.10203C17.1395 3.07185 17.1185 3.04603 17.0914 3.02787C17.0644 3.0097 17.0326 3 17 3C16.9674 3 16.9356 3.0097 16.9086 3.02787C16.8815 3.04603 16.8605 3.07185 16.8481 3.10203L16.6021 3.96469C16.4928 4.35317 16.2859 4.70705 16.0011 4.99245C15.7163 5.27786 15.3632 5.48524 14.9756 5.59477L14.1148 5.84129C14.0817 5.85069 14.0526 5.87064 14.0319 5.89811C14.0112 5.92558 14 5.95907 14 5.9935C14 6.02794 14.0112 6.06143 14.0319 6.0889C14.0526 6.11637 14.0817 6.13632 14.1148 6.14572L14.9756 6.39224C15.3632 6.50176 15.7163 6.70915 16.0011 6.99455C16.2859 7.27996 16.4928 7.63383 16.6021 8.02231L16.8481 8.88498C16.8575 8.9181 16.8774 8.94725 16.9048 8.96801C16.9322 8.98877 16.9656 9 17 9C17.0344 9 17.0678 8.98877 17.0952 8.96801C17.1226 8.94725 17.1425 8.9181 17.1519 8.88498L17.3979 8.02231C17.5072 7.63383 17.7141 7.27996 17.9989 6.99455C18.2837 6.70915 18.6368 6.50176 19.0244 6.39224L19.8852 6.14572C19.9183 6.13632 19.9474 6.11637 19.9681 6.0889C19.9888 6.06143 20 6.02794 20 5.9935C20 5.95907 19.9888 5.92558 19.9681 5.89811C19.9474 5.87064 19.9183 5.85069 19.8852 5.84129Z\" fill=\"currentColor\"\/>\n<\/svg><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n            <span>Summary<\/span><br \/>\n        <\/strong><br \/>\n            <span class=\"ai-article-summary__toggle-caret-up\" aria-label=\"Toggle Article Summary\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"icon-ui-caret-up\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M12.478 6.21a.637.637 0 00-.946 0L2.206 16.229c-.225.243-.28.633-.093.91.237.355.7.385.975.089l8.917-9.579 8.878 9.537c.225.243.589.301.847.101a.721.721 0 00.082-1.048L12.478 6.211z\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n            <span class=\"ai-article-summary__toggle-caret-down\" aria-label=\"Toggle Article Summary\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"icon-ui-caret-down\" width=\"24\" height=\"24\" viewbox=\"0 0 24 24\"><path d=\"M12.478 17.218a.637.637 0 01-.946 0L2.206 7.2c-.225-.242-.28-.632-.093-.91a.613.613 0 01.975-.088l8.917 9.579 8.878-9.538c.225-.242.589-.3.847-.1.33.255.357.752.082 1.048l-9.334 10.027z\"\/><\/svg><br \/>\n<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"ai-article-summary__collapsible\">\n<ul class=\"ai-article-summary__items\" data-editable=\"settings\">\n<li class=\"ai-article-summary__item\">Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder serving 25 years for fraud, has formally applied for a presidential pardon.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ai-article-summary__item\">The former crypto billionaire recently expressed support for Trump from prison despite previously donating heavily to Democratic campaigns.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ai-article-summary__item\">Trump said in January he did not plan to pardon Bankman-Fried, who was convicted of orchestrating one of history&#8217;s largest financial frauds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\n            <span class=\"ai-article-summary__disclaimer-text\">AI-generated summary was reviewed by a CNN editor.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5h2em0000x28qn23wycy0p@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Sam Bankman-Fried, the former<strong> <\/strong>crypto<strong> <\/strong>billionaire who orchestrated one of the largest financial frauds in history, officially asked President Donald Trump for a pardon, according to the Justice Department\u2019s website.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5hhdov00083b6rob04acod@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Bankman-Fried, 34, co-founded the disgraced crypto exchange FTX and was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024. Bankman-Fried\u2019s application with the Justice Department, first reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2026-06-08\/ftx-co-founder-bankman-fried-formally-applies-for-trump-pardon\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Bloomberg<\/a>, is for a \u201cpardon after completion of sentence.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5kb8zu00083b6rmxqwk9jj@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Such a pardon would not erase Bankman-Fried\u2019s conviction but would instead restore certain civil liberties \u2014 such as the right to vote or to serve on a jury \u2014 after he serves out his prison sentence, according to the DOJ\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/pardon\/file\/960581\/dl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">website<\/a>. The pardon would also lift barriers to licensing, employment, housing or education, if granted.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5hk9np000c3b6rpj9q8y86@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            As CEO of FTX, Bankman-Fried became one of the largest donors to Democratic campaigns and causes. However, while serving in federal prison, he has posted support of the Trump administration on social media. In an interview <a href=\"https:\/\/www.foxbusiness.com\/politics\/sam-bankman-fried-says-he-absolutely-wants-presidential-pardon-from-inside-his-federal-prison-cell\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">with<\/a> Fox Business published on Monday, Bankman-Fried said he \u201cabsolutely\u201d wants a presidential pardon.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5j3fiz00053b6r99159xpy@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            According to the DOJ\u2019s website, Bankman-Fried submitted his pardon request sometime in 2026, though the exact date is not publicly listed.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5hri54000h3b6rme5ccv9q@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            A White House spokesperson declined CNN\u2019s request for comment but pointed to a January interview Trump gave to the New York Times, in which he said he wouldn\u2019t pardon Bankman-Fried.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5hvncr000j3b6rsjlc3wkl@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Bankman-Fried was once known as a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2023\/11\/03\/investing\/who-is-sam-bankman-fried-ftx-fraud-trial\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cryptocurrency whiz kid<\/a>, and his company FTX was valued at $32 billion at its peak. But his empire began to crumble in 2022 when FTX filed for bankruptcy after experiencing billions of dollars in net withdrawals, fueling panic in the crypto industry.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5ihfhb00003b6r7b7rnmh0@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Prosecutors alleged that Bankman-Fried had secretly diverted billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX to his crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, where the funds were used for risky investments, political donations, and real estate purchases, among other things.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5ij7sd00023b6ru1n6xgxi@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            Bankman-Fried was convicted of multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy, including wire fraud, securities fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5i7gfx000n3b6rgnfqn5cp@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            As part of his sentence, Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered Bankman-Fried <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/29\/investing\/sam-bankman-fried-forfeiture-11-billion\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">to forfeit more than $11 billion<\/a> in assets and proceeds tied to the fraud.\n    <\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph-elevate inline-placeholder vossi-paragraph_elevate\" data-uri=\"cms.cnn.com\/_components\/paragraph\/instances\/cmq5i8ouh000p3b6rn4o5miuc@published\" data-editable=\"text\" data-component-name=\"paragraph\" data-article-gutter=\"true\">\n            When <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/03\/28\/business\/ftx-sam-bankman-fried-sentencing\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">announcing the sentence<\/a> in 2024, Kaplan said there was a risk \u201cthat this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it\u2019s not a trivial risk.\u201d\n    <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Summary Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX founder serving 25 years for fraud, has formally applied for a presidential pardon. The former<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32674,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_animmysite_disable_animation":false,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media.cnn.com\/api\/v1\/images\/stellar\/prod\/gettyimages-1556770641.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[212],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32673","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32673","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32673"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32673\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32673"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32673"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/trendifyhubusa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32673"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}