The Senate unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution opposing clemency for the FTX founder, sending a political signal as his family had lobbied the White House for a pardon.
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The U.S. Senate on July 16 unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution opposing any presidential pardon, sentence commutation, or other federal clemency for Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted FTX founder. S. Res. 772 passed under unanimous consent rules, meaning no senator objected.
The resolution was introduced June 17 by Senator Cynthia Lummis, a Wyoming Republican, and Senator Ruben Gallego, an Arizona Democrat. The two chair opposite ends of the Senate Banking Committee's cryptocurrency subcommittee.
"He received fair judicial proceedings," Lummis said when introducing the measure. Gallego was blunter: "Keep him locked up."
The resolution carries no legal force – it cannot block a presidential pardon – but sends a clear political signal to the executive branch.
Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on seven criminal counts tied to FTX's collapse. Federal prosecutors called it one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. U.S. customers lost more than $8 billion. Bankman-Fried is serving a sentence with an expected release date around 2044.
The fraud involved diverting billions in FTX customer funds to Alameda Research, Bankman-Fried's trading firm. The money funded speculative trades, startup investments, political donations, and luxury real estate in the Bahamas. The scheme unraveled in November 2022 after CoinDesk published Alameda's balance sheet, showing it held mostly FTT, FTX's proprietary token. Binance then said it would liquidate its FTT holdings, triggering a price crash, a run on customer deposits, and FTX's bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022.
President Trump has pardoned other crypto figures this year, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht. Those clemency grants fueled speculation that Bankman-Fried might get similar treatment. His family had lobbied the White House on his behalf.
The administration said in January it was not considering a pardon for Bankman-Fried. The Senate's unanimous resolution reinforces that position.
Bankman-Fried's appeal of his conviction failed in federal court, leaving presidential clemency as his only remaining legal option.
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