Bankman-Fried Petitions for Pardon To Overturn ‘Captain Ahab’ Judge Who Condemned Him to 25 Years in Prison

Crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried has submitted a formal application for a pardon, suggesting the fraudster still holds out hope of clemency from President Trump, against whose reelection he spent tens of millions of dollars. A search of the Office of the Pardon Attorney finds that Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year sentence following his conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, applied for a “Pardon after Completion of Sentence.” It is not immediately clear when he filed the request. His convictions followed the collapse in November 2022 of his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, and an associated hedge fund, Alameda Research.The Justice Department explains on its pardon application that this species of pardon can “restore civil liberties, like the right to vote, or sit on a jury, and lift barriers to licensing, employment, housing, or education.” However, it cannot “erase or expunge a conviction.” Bankman-Fried’s request, the department acknowledges, is only available after a “lengthy process” that includes completing his sentence —in this case, in close to a quarter century. Prosecutors at the Southern District of New York alleged that Bankman-Fried’s frauds wiped out about $10 billion in earnings that belonged to lenders, customers and investors. Bankman-Fried contends that FTX suffered a liquidity crisis, but had ample value to pay back all of its obligations. Bankman-Fried’s early investments in companies like Anthropic, Cursor, and Space X would now be worth more than $100 billion. FTX was worth some $32 billion dollars at its peak. Bankman-Fried told Fox Business on Monday that he would “absolutely” want a pardon but that “it would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me.” The Constitution ordains that the president “shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States.” Alexander Hamilton writes in 74 Federalist that “Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed.”Mr. Trump has issued more than 1,400 pardons and commutations so far in his second term, though more than 1,200 of those were granted in a fell swoop to participants in the riot at the Capitol on January 6, 2021. During his first term, he granted 238 pardons and commutations. In January, President Trump declared he had “no intention of pardoning” Bankman-Fried, who made the second largest donation to President Biden’s 2020 election campaign, behind Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bankman-Fried insists that he also gave lavishly to Republicans, but that he kept those donations under wraps for fear of criticism.Bankman-Fried, who is incarcerated at a low-security prison in California, Terminal Island, has taken to praising Mr. Trump on social media. He has touted the 47th president’s economic record as well as voiced support for the war against Iran. In a telephone interview with The New York Sun last year, he denounced the “destructive” policies of the Biden administration and accused the 46th president of “political censorship” and “misinformation disguised as anti-misinformation.”The judge, Lewis Kaplan, who sentenced Bankman-Fried to a quarter-century in prison with no hope of parole, warned in court “that this man will be in a position to do something very bad in the future, and it’s not a trivial risk.” Bankman-Fried has appealed his convictions to the U.S. Second Appeals Circuit, which heard oral arguments in November but has yet to render a verdict. A ruling could come any day.Bankman-Fried contends on appeal that Judge Kaplan, who also presided over the writer E. Jean Carroll’s sexual abuse and defamation cases against Mr. Trump was biased and presumed his guilt. Ms. Caroll — won both of her cases, to the total tune of $88 million. Judge Kaplan has already denied a separate appeal from Bankman-Fried on those grounds. He writes that he is unconvinced by Bankman-Fried’s “wildly conspiratorial” theory that alleges his convictions were the products of “government threats and retaliation.”The judge added that Bankman-Fried’s account is “entirely contradicted by the record” and that granting a new trial “would be a large waste of judicial resources as it could require another judge to familiarize himself or herself with an extensive and complicated record.” Bankman-Fried’s mother Barbara — a law professor emerita at Stanford Law School — wrote last month on her Substack that Judge Kaplan’s “hatred of Sam was instantaneous, visceral, and immune to facts and reason. He was Captain Ahab and Sam was his Moby Dick, an avatar of evil rather than a real, live, human being.”

Bankman-Fried Petitions for Pardon To Overturn ‘Captain Ahab’ Judge Who Condemned Him to 25 Years in Prison

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