Cynthia Lummis · US Congress · US Senate · Donald Trump · Fortune Technology
Sam Bankman-Fried’s pardon bid confronts bipartisan pushback in Congress: ‘Keep him locked up’
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Two senators don’t want Sam Bankman-Fried out of prison.
Key facts
- Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Ruben Gallego (D-Ariz.) introduced a resolution urging the executive branch to ignore the FTX cofounder’s formal bid for a pardon
- In 2023, Bankman-Fried was convicted of orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history, siphoning billions of dollars in customer funds from the crypto exchange FTX
- Bankman-Fried’s clemency push comes after Trump has granted a string of pardons to not only prominent crypto figures—including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht—but
- Sam Bankman-Fried has clearly ramped up his pardon campaign, and Senator Lummis wants Fried to know [she] and her colleagues think he’s exactly where he belongs,” a spokesperson from Lummis’s office
Summary
“Sam Bankman-Fried has clearly ramped up his pardon campaign, and Senator Lummis wants Fried to know and her colleagues think he’s exactly where he belongs,” a spokesperson from Lummis’s office told Fortune. Gallego agreed: “He has shown no remorse for his crimes and has instead tried to laughably claim he is a victim of ‘lawfare.’ What a joke. The two members of Congress, who are both part of the Senate Banking Committee, say they aim to quickly pass the resolution, which cannot block a presidential pardon but would make clear that senators oppose Bankman-Fried’s push for clemency. In 2023, Bankman-Fried was convicted of orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history, siphoning billions of dollars in customer funds from the crypto exchange FTX into his trading firm, Alameda Research.