Trump Rules Out Pardon For Sam Bankman-Fried Despite Clemency For Binance’s CZ Zhao, Silk Road’s Ross Ulbricht

In an interview with the New York Times, President Donald Trump confirmed he will not grant clemency to FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.

• The decision contrasts with prior pardons of figures tied to crypto regulation cases including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.
• Trump also extended clemency in 2025 to former BitMEX chief executive Arthur Hayes and his co-founders.
• The president reiterated his support for crypto, stating that it has been politically beneficial.

President Donald Trump said Thursday that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried will not be pardoned, despite granting clemency over the past year to Binance founder Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht, prominent figures in the crypto space.

In an interview with The New York Times, Trump said that Bankman-Fried would not be included in any future clemency actions, distancing the administration from one of the most high-profile criminal cases to emerge from the crypto industry’s 2022 collapse. The former chief executive of the now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy.

Trump also said he would not pardon other prominent figures, including music producer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and former New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez. 

Trump Draws Limits On Pardons

Trump’s comments contrast with the high-profile clemency decisions the President has already made since returning to office. In January last year, he issued a full and unconditional pardon to Ulbricht, the founder of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, whose platform was closely associated with early Bitcoin (BTC) transactions and illegal online commerce.

Later, in October, Trump granted a pardon to CZ Zhao. He had previously served a four-month sentence after pleading guilty to violations related to anti-money-laundering controls.

Trump also extended clemency in 2025 to former BitMEX chief executive Arthur Hayes and his co-founders. The group had faced penalties for violations of the Bank Secrecy Act, though those pardons were processed through a separate clemency docket and did not involve allegations of customer fraud.

Trump’s Support For Crypto Remains

Even though Bankman-Fried may not be getting off the hook, Trump reiterated his support for the broader cryptocurrency industry. In the interview, he noted that his backing of cryptocurrency initiatives played a role in his electoral success. “I got a lot of votes because I backed crypto, and I got to like it,” Trump said.

The president’s crypto-friendly approach has drawn scrutiny over the past year, given his personal and family ties to crypto-related ventures. Those include interests linked to the Bitcoin mining firm American Bitcoin (ABTC) and the decentralized finance project World Liberty Financial (WLFI) with its USD1 stablecoin. 

Overall crypto market capitalization held steady at around $3.2 trillion on Thursday night. CoinGlass data showed around $378 million in liquidations over the past day. Around $297 million came from long positions and $81 million from short bets. Bitcoin’s price traded flat in the last 24 hours, recovering to around $91,000 after dipping below $90,000 in intraday trade.

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