Yesterday, the US Senate passed a Resolution (S.Res. 772) stating that FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried should never receive a Presidential Pardon.
Bankman-Fried is currently in prison serving a 25-year sentence for fraud following the collapse of his businesses. It has been rumored that Bankman-Fried was seeking a Presidential pardon to cut his incarceration short.
While it has been reported that in the ensuing months after FTX was shuttered, investments would have been more than sufficient to keep the operation afloat (potentially generating returns for investors), the acts of fraud are clear.
The bipartisan resolution introduced by Republican crypto advocate Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democrat Senator Ruben Gallego “expressed the sense of the Senate that under no circumstances should Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation, and affirmed the Senate’s commitment to the rule of law and integrity of the United States financial system.”
While the resolution lacks binding or enforcement authority, it diminishes Bankman-Fried’s strategy by discouraging President Trump from pursuing a pardon for the crypto entrepreneur.