Sam Bankman-Fried pardon efforts are growing louder by the day. The convicted FTX founder is posting from behind bars. And the White House is not impressed.
Bankman-Fried is currently serving 25 years in federal prison. His X feed has turned into a MAGA-coded stream of posts in recent weeks. They attack judges, praise Trump, and rail against the so-called deep state, according to reporting by Fortune.
He communicates through a proxy via Bureau of Prisons-approved calls and emails. His bio on X makes this clear. The posts still go out regularly.
In one post, Bankman-Fried called out Clinton-appointed Judge Lewis Kaplan for what he described as political bias at sentencing. He praised Trump for calling the judge "partisan and out of control." The post reads, per Fortune, as a direct appeal to the president.
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The White House confirmed its position to Fortune directly. A spokesperson said Trump has no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried. The statement pointed back to Trump's own comments from January.
Trump said then he would not pardon Bankman-Fried, alongside others including former New Jersey senator Robert Menendez. That list made the stance pretty clear.
Bankman-Fried was one of the biggest donors to Democratic causes before FTX collapsed in November 2022. That history still dogs him. D.C. insiders told Fortune it was always a long shot with the Trump camp.
Critics have also flagged what they describe as "sock-puppet" accounts amplifying his posts on X. The operation has a manufactured feel. It has not gone unnoticed in Washington.
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CZ Got the Pardon. SBF Did Not.
The contrast with Binance founder Changpeng Zhao is striking. Trump pardoned CZ, once Bankman-Fried's biggest rival in crypto. That pardon came after Zhao pleaded guilty to anti-money laundering violations.
Bankman-Fried pushed hard to replicate that outcome. He even appeared on Tucker Carlson's show without prison authorization last year. That appearance reportedly landed him in solitary confinement, per Fortune.
His legal team is also fighting his conviction in federal appeals court. That track runs separate from the pardon campaign. Both are active at the same time.
Trump's broader crypto policy has been friendly since he returned to office in January 2025. Regulatory agencies have dropped key cases against blockchain firms. The Justice Department restructured its approach to crypto enforcement entirely.
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Still, none of that goodwill has extended to Bankman-Fried. His reputation inside the crypto industry remains toxic. That, combined with his ties to the Democratic Party, has closed most doors in the current administration.
One recent post on his X account praised Truth Social and GETTR for what he called a commitment to free speech. Another attacked Democrats for wanting to censor "misinfo" online. The ideological pivot is total. It just has not worked.
The White House spokesperson who responded to Fortune was definitive. "The President is the ultimate decider on all pardons," the statement read. For now, that decision is no.
