President Donald Trump told The New York Times he will not pardon former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, who is serving 25 years for fraud and conspiracy, despite granting clemency to other crypto figures including Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao and Ross Ulbricht.
SBF’s Parents Lobbied Trump’s Orbit Without Success
Bankman-Fried’s parents, former Stanford Law School professors Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman, reportedly met with lawyers and others in Trump’s orbit attempting to secure a pardon.
The lobbying campaign failed to sway Trump, who is a major political backer of the Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) and digital assets entrepreneur.
SBF conducted a Republican-friendly media rehabilitation tour in recent months and repeatedly praised Trump’s pardon of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández for cocaine importation.
However, the strategy didn’t work.
Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million to the Biden campaign in 2020, potentially creating political …