The doors of clemency have firmly closed for Sam Bankman-Fried. President Donald Trump made it clear in a recent interview that the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul will stay behind bars, serving out his 25-year sentence for what prosecutors called one of the biggest financial frauds in American history.
Trump told The New York Times on Thursday that he won’t pardon Bankman-Fried—known widely as SBF—or several other high-profile figures like music producer Sean Combs and former New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez.
Crypto Connections Don’t Guarantee Mercy
The president pushed back against questions about potential conflicts of interest during the interview, citing his ties to American Bitcoin, the World Liberty Financial stablecoin platform, and his own branded memecoin. Trump said backing crypto won him votes, and he has come to like the industry.
Only a select few appear to have his support. For instance, Trump had pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht right after taking office in January. He freed former Binance boss Changpeng Zhao last October, even though Trump later admitted he didn’t know Zhao. Bankman-Fried gets no such consideration.
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Federal prosecutors had convinced a jury that Bankman-Fried stole billions from FTX customers. He was convicted on seven felony counts in 2023, and Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years—far more than cooperating executives received. Caroline Ellison, who ran Alameda Research and testified against her former boss, got just two years.
Appeal Remains Only Hope
A few months back, word had gotten around that Bankman-Fried tried cozying up to Republicans and conservative media personalities like Tucker Carlson, apparently hoping to set himself up for a pardon. But nobody bought it. Polymarket bettors put his chances of getting Trump’s clemency before 2027 at a measly 6%.
In November 2025, Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed an appeal with a higher federal court (the Second Circuit Court of Appeals). That court will eventually decide whether to overturn his conviction or reduce his sentence. This will be his last real chance of ever getting out of prison.
Meanwhile, Caroline Ellison has already been moved to a low-security facility in New York to prepare for release, and she is scheduled to be free on January 21.
