U.S. Senate backs resolution opposing any pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried

The U.S. Senate unanimously adopted S. Res. 772, a nonbinding resolution stating that Sam Bankman-Fried should “under no circumstances” receive a presidential pardon or a commutation of his sentence. The measure, introduced on June 17 by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego and later joined by Senator Bernie Moreno as a cosponsor on July 15, puts the chamber on record in support of the rule of law and the integrity of the U.S. financial system. The resolution does not limit the president’s constitutional clemency power, and Bankman-Fried’s petition to President Donald Trump remained pending in Justice Department records at the time of publication. Trump said in January 2026 that he had no plans to act on it. On Polymarket, traders put the probability of a Trump pardon for Bankman-Fried by July 31 at less than 1%, with more than $734,000 in volume on that market. A jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven counts tied to FTX’s collapse, which prosecutors described as one of the largest financial fraud cases in U.S. history. More than $8 billion in customer funds were lost. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024 and is not eligible for release until around 2044. A federal appeals court upheld his conviction last month, and a separate motion seeking a new trial was withdrawn without prejudice while his direct appeal and a related reassignment request continue. FTX unraveled in November 2022 after scrutiny of Alameda Research’s balance sheet highlighted its reliance on FTT, a token created by FTX. When Binance said it would sell its FTT holdings, the token plunged, customers rushed to withdraw funds, and FTX filed for bankruptcy on Nov. 11, 2022. Prosecutors said Bankman-Fried had moved billions of dollars in customer deposits from FTX to Alameda, which spent the funds on trading, venture investments, political donations and real estate in the Bahamas.