Sam Bankman-Fried lobbies Trump supporters, seeks pardon from the new President

Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of the bankrupt FTX exchange, is moving closer to Trump supporters. Bankman-Fried also revived the drive to achieve a Presidential pardon, although he has not reached out to Trump directly. 

Sam Bankman-Fried may be seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump. To that end, Bankman-Fried started to build an image of being a Republican supporter, and not actually a hardline Democrat. 

The entangled history of Bankman-Fried’s political donations may give him favor with both US parties. Data showed Bankman-Fried was in charge of as much as $100M in political donations during the heyday of FTX. 

The donations toward the Democratic party, however, did not translate into a Presidential pardon at the end of Joe Biden’s mandate. So the FTX founder chose to play the Republican card and try to pull a feat similar to Andrew Tate’s escape from his Eastern European confinement. 

A new effort is underway, as reported by the NY Times, to build a case for his freedom before President Trump. Bankman-Fried has gathered a group of supporters and consultants, headed by his parents, Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried. The recent communication and PR campaign are trying to gain ground despite the previous political affiliations of Bankman-Fried, and his closeness to the US Democratic Party.

The group is communicating with Kory Langhofer, an Arizona lawyer who worked on Trump’s 2016 and 2020 campaigns. 

Reportedly, the group around Bankman-Fried is also trying to tap Washington lobbyists and politically connected business people to present the case that FTX did not actually hurt its clients and was capable of paying back their claims. The process of getting Trump’s attention has already started, to the discontent of the crypto community.

Without the pardon, Bankman-Fried faces a 25-year prison sentence for fraud against the company’s clients and lenders. 

Crypto and right-wing community speak against the pardon

The idea of having Bankman-Fried walk free is still unpalatable to many. The FTX exchange not only caused personal losses to the tune of $16B but also traumatized the crypto market. After years of price stagnation, the effect of FTX was much deeper. Crypto community influencers saw a pattern in Bankman-Fried’s attempts to reverse course on his politics and spread his case about being a potential Republican asset. 

This has made crypto supporters and Trump fans see a pardon as deeply unfair. Bankman Fried is nowhere close to the fate of Ross Ulbricht or Aleksey Pertsev, whose main goal was privacy. 

For others, a Presidential pardon still has a slim chance, if Bankman-Fried decides to cooperate on any intriguing crypto uses by former Democrat donors. 

Bets suggest a pardon is highly unlikely

Based on crowd decisions, a pardon for Bankman-Fried is highly unlikely. The prediction platform Polymarket, famous for correctly predicting the US election outcome before official sources, puts a pardon at a 5% probability. As talk about pardon lobbying accelerated, the ‘yes’ token inched up to $0.055, a minor addition. With nearly two months to go, the market may yet track the real potential for a Presidential pardon.

The only market open on the issue is a list of potential pardons during the first 100 days of Donald Trump’s second presidential term. Bankman-Fried is a top selection, but there is no demand for ‘yes’ vote tokens, and the market has not reacted to the rumors. 

A pardon may take more than 100 days, and the betting market may be limited in its ability to predict the real outcome. As Trump is overwhelmed with an active war and trade issues, a former crypto tycoon may be a low priority in the first 100 days. 

Following Bankman-Fried’s interview with Tucker Carlson, others believe the process of seeking pardon will continue, with a probability of walking free by the end of the year. An unpopular pardon for Bankman-Fried would add to Trump’s inadvertent negative effects on the crypto market.

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