US Senate Passes Unanimous Resolution: FTX Founder Should Not Receive a Presidential Pardon
On July 16, according to CoinDesk, the U.S. Senate passed a joint resolution on Wednesday that formally establishes that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) “under no circumstances” should receive a presidential pardon or commutation.
The resolution was jointly drafted by Republican Sen. Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Sen. Ruben Gallego. It passed the legislature with unanimous approval, reflecting a rare display of unity between the two U.S. parties.
This unopposed resolution directly targets SBF’s alleged conduct, clearly condemning him for masterminding and leading what is described as the largest financial fraud case in U.S. history, and demonstrating Congress’s collective firm opposition to the related financial wrongdoing.
In November 2023, a jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts, including his direct role in causing the collapse of the FTX exchange and leading to losses of more than $8 billion in customer funds.
Under the sentence, Bankman-Fried’s total prison term adds up to more than 25 years, with eligibility for release only around 2044. By then, he will be close to his sixties, meaning he would spend nearly his entire adult life behind bars.
Notably, although President Trump previously pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, he also said earlier this year in January that there are no plans to grant a pardon to Bankman-Fried at this time.
When Sen. Lummis introduced this measure in June, Bankman-Fried was already standing trial in court. Sen. Gallego’s view was even more succinct and forceful, saying that SBF should be allowed to continue serving his sentence.
The collapse of FTX began in November 2022, when the media, after obtaining Alameda Research’s balance sheet, found that most of the company’s assets were FTT tokens issued by FTX itself.
After the incident was exposed, Binance then announced it would sell its FTT holdings, directly triggering a sharp plunge in the token’s price and a customer bank run. Ultimately, on November 11, FTX filed for bankruptcy, and the entire empire collapsed.
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