FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 8, 2026
CONTACT: Jarice Thompson jarice@ourfinancialsecurity.org
AFR Statement on Sam Bankman Fried’s Formal Pardon Request
Today’s pardon request by Sam Bankman-Fried is one more striking indication of the level of impunity that crypto industry figures expect from the President. This particular wish may or may not be granted, but the request – despite Bankman-Fried’s conviction on multiple counts of fraud – should come as little surprise. The industry has spent hundreds of millions to influence Trump and the Trump administration, including directly investing in the Trump family’s crypto ventures, putting many millions of dollars in their pockets. For its part, the Trump administration has aggressively moved the industry deregulatory agenda, dismissed dozens of cases against crypto firms, and pardoned his family’s business partner and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao for knowingly allowing money laundering on the platform. Members of Congress are considering what kind of ‘ethics’ language will be included in legislation that the crypto industry is trying to drive to a Senate floor vote. Any measure that does not lay down bright enforceable lines against the unprecedented corruption and lawbreaking it enables would be a bright green signal encouraging more of the same.
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