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Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), who chair the Senate Subcommittee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Digital Assets, introduced a resolution opposing any presidential pardon or commutation for Sam Bankman-Fried.

This nonbinding measure characterizes the FTX founder as an unrepentant fraudster and rejects his claim that the criminal prosecution was politically motivated.

This comes after the defendant formally filed a petition for a pardon this month, even though President Trump has ruled out the possibility of one.

Senators from both parties intend to formally record Congresss opposition to any pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried, while the imprisoned FTX founder continues to make long-shot attempts to secure a presidential pardon.

On Wednesday, Senators Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) and Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), the top Democrats and Republicans on the Senate Subcommittee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Subcommittee on Digital Assets, introduced a resolution stating that the convicted cryptocurrency fraudster should not receive a pardon, commutation, or any other form of federal clemency. Let him stay behind bars, Gallego said.

Bankman-Fried has shown no remorse for his actions, Gallego added. Lummis, a vocal advocate for cryptocurrencies, spoke just as forcefully, stating that Bankman-Fried has already faced justice and is pushing for a pardon he doesnt deserve instead of taking responsibility.

SBF has clearly stepped up his campaign to secure a pardon, and Senator Lummis wants Fried to know that she and her colleagues believe he is exactly where he belongs, a spokesperson for the senators office told Decrypt.

Bankman-Frieds downfall began after the collapse of FTX in November 2022; in November 2023, a jury unanimously found him guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, and in March 2024, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of $11 billion. , “detected_source_language “: “RU

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FTX customers alone lost more than $8 billion as a result of a case that prosecutors have described as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. The ruling rejects Bankman-Frieds claim that the criminal prosecution against him is politically motivated and upholds the validity of the jurys verdict.

The senators intervention came after the defendant formally applied this month to the Justice Departments Office of Parole and Sentencing for a post-sentence pardon a request that is currently under review. Just a few days earlier, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction and sentence, meaning he will not be eligible for release until 2044.

In 2025, Donald Trump exercised his pardon authority to overhaul the federal approach to cryptocurrency enforcement, pardoning several of the most high-profile defendants the industry has ever faced. These moves marked a political shift in Washington and raised questions about how the U.S. would regulate digital assets during Trumps second term. This case was politically motivated, Trump stated on Truth Social while announcing his first pardon, calling the governments past actions absurd.

President Trump had ruled out the possibility of pardoning Bankman-Fried, telling The New York Times in January that he had no plans to grant one. Nevertheless, this move reflects concerns that the door could reopen, given that Trump has pardoned other figures in the cryptocurrency space, including Ross Ulbricht of Silk Road, Arthur Hayes and Ben Delo of BitMEX, as well as Changpeng Zhao of Binance.

While in prison, Bankman-Fried continued to maintain his innocence and lobby for a reduced sentence a move that had previously drawn criticism from representatives of both parties, including Lummis in February, when SBFs X account began promoting a bill on the structure of the cryptocurrency market. On prediction markets, the probability of a pardon is still estimated to be in the single digits.

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