Sam Bankman-Fried’s social media campaign fails to sway Trump on pardon

The White House has reaffirmed that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried will not receive a presidential pardon, even as the disgraced crypto founder publicly courts President Donald Trump through a sustained social media campaign.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s Trump appeals fall flat

A White House spokesperson reiterated to media that Trump has no plans to grant clemency to Bankman-Fried, revealing the president’s stance.

Bankman-Fried, serving a 25-year sentence for fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has in recent weeks taken to platforms like X to align himself with Trump’s policies, criticize the judge who sentenced him, and lash out at his legal foes.

The messaging, widely interpreted as an attempt to influence Trump’s pardon calculus, also includes praise for conservative causes and disparagement of the Biden administration.

Despite these efforts, Trump’s position remains firm. In January, the president declared that Bankman-Fried was not among the individuals he intended to pardon — a list that also excludes other high-profile figures such as former New Jersey senator Robert Menendez and Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro.

The White House statement reiterated this stance and suggested that the FTX founder’s public overtures have not altered Trump’s approach to clemency.

Bankman-Fried’s pivot toward Trump contrasts sharply with his earlier role as a major Democratic donor before FTX’s collapse. The shift in tone has been accompanied by amplification across various accounts on social media, with critics dismissing the campaign as ineffective “sock-puppet” activity.

The president has granted pardons to several figures associated with the cryptocurrency world, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and BitMEX’s leadership. Still, advisers and political observers view Bankman-Fried’s bid as unlikely to succeed, given his controversial reputation and the severity of his crimes.