U.S. Senate Unanimously Passes Resolution Opposing Clemency for FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried

The United States Senate has sent a resounding, bipartisan message to the federal government and the cryptocurrency industry alike: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried must serve every day of his prison sentence.

On Wednesday, the Senate voted to pass S. Res. 772, a resolution declaring that the convicted former billionaire should “under no circumstances” receive executive clemency, which includes a presidential pardon or a commutation of his sentence.

The measure was passed via unanimous consent, a legislative procedure that allows a resolution to pass instantly as long as not a single senator objects. This procedural choice underscores the absolute lack of political appetite on Capitol Hill to show leniency to the man behind one of the largest financial frauds in American history. Alongside its explicit stance on Bankman-Fried, the resolution affirmed the Senate’s broader commitment to “the rule of law and integrity of the United States financial system.”

Because S. Res. 772 is a nonbinding resolution, it carries no legal force and cannot formally restrict the president’s constitutional authority to grant pardons or commutations. However, its political weight is immense, signaling a rare moment of total consensus in a deeply polarized Congress.

A Bipartisan Front Against Crypto’s Most Famous Convict

The legislative push was spearheaded by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) and Rubén Gallego (D-AZ), who serve as the top Republican and Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee. The duo originally introduced the resolution on June 17, aiming to preemptively shut down any lobbying efforts on Bankman-Fried’s behalf.

Lummis, widely regarded as the digital asset industry’s most prominent champion in Congress, was unequivocal when the bill was introduced, stating that Bankman-Fried “had his day in court.” Gallego was even more direct in his assessment, stating simply: “Keep him locked up.”

At the time of the resolution’s introduction, a spokesperson for Lummis’ office told Decrypt that the move was a direct response to SBF’s behind-the-scenes maneuvering. “SBF has clearly ramped up his pardon campaign and Senator Lummis wants Fried to know she and her colleagues think he’s right where he belongs,” the spokesperson said.

The bipartisan alignment of Lummis and Gallego is highly symbolic. Before FTX’s spectacular collapse in November 2022, Bankman-Fried was a massive political donor, funneling tens of millions of dollars into both Democratic and Republican campaigns. His political influence-peddling was later revealed to be funded directly by stolen customer funds, leaving a trail of reputational damage across Washington. By leading this resolution, the digital assets subcommittee has made it clear that the industry’s legislative allies will not offer him any political cover.

The Contrast in Presidential Clemency

The Senate’s preemptive strike comes as President Donald Trump continues to wield his executive clemency powers for other high-profile figures in the digital asset space. Trump has previously extended pardons to several prominent crypto founders who faced federal charges.

Among those who received pardons from Trump are Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, who served a brief prison sentence for anti-money laundering violations, and BitMEX co-founders Arthur Hayes, Ben Delo, and Samuel Reed, who faced charges related to Bankman-Fried’s predecessor generation of crypto derivatives exchanges. Most notably, Trump also pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the early darknet marketplace Silk Road, whose double-life sentence had long been a cause célèbre for libertarians and crypto advocates.

However, Bankman-Fried’s situation is fundamentally different. While figures like Zhao and the BitMEX founders were prosecuted for regulatory compliance failures, Bankman-Fried was convicted of outright theft. In January, Trump explicitly stated that he had no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried, drawing a sharp line between regulatory infractions and the direct misappropriation of billions of dollars in retail customer deposits.

The Unraveling of the FTX Empire

The resolution serves as a stark reminder of the devastating collapse of FTX, which was once valued at $32 billion and stood as one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges.

In November 2023, a federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried on seven criminal counts, including wire fraud, securities fraud, and money laundering. The trial laid bare a massive scheme where customer funds deposited on FTX were secretly diverted to Alameda Research, a sister hedge fund also controlled by Bankman-Fried. Alameda Research used these billions to make speculative venture investments, purchase luxury real estate, and fund massive political donations.

When the crypto market downturn of 2022 triggered a run on the exchange, the massive multi-billion-dollar hole in FTX’s balance sheet was exposed, leading to a swift bankruptcy. Prosecutors characterized the debacle as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history, noting that American customers alone lost more than $8 billion.

In March 2024, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in federal prison.

A Narrowing Path to Freedom

With the Senate’s unanimous vote, Bankman-Fried’s avenues for an early release have virtually evaporated. His legal team has aggressively pursued appeals, but those efforts have hit a brick wall. Just last month, a federal appeals court upheld his fraud conviction, rejecting arguments that the trial judge had been unfair or biased.

With the federal courts, the White House, and now the entire Senate firmly aligned against him, Bankman-Fried has no viable political or legal escape hatch. Barring an extraordinary and highly unlikely turn of events, he will remain behind bars until his scheduled release date, which is expected to fall somewhere around 2044.