Sam Bankman-Fried Tries All Avenues – New Trial, Pardon Requests, Crypto Bill Backing. What Lies Ahead?

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TLDR

  • A US court set March 11 as the deadline for prosecutors to respond to Sam Bankman-Fried’s motion for a new criminal trial
  • SBF was convicted on seven felony counts in 2023 and sentenced to 25 years in prison for fraud related to FTX’s collapse
  • From behind bars, SBF has been posting pro-Trump messages on X, which is widely regarded as an attempt to obtain a presidential pardon
  • Both Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren rejected SBF’s public support for the Clarity Act crypto bill
  • The White House has repeatedly stated that Trump is not considering a pardon for Bankman-Fried

Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the convicted founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, is battling his case on two fronts—and is losing ground on both.

A federal judge has given US prosecutors until March 11 to respond to SBF’s motion for a new criminal trial. Judge Lewis Kaplan issued this deadline in a filing on Wednesday at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.

He was convicted on seven felony counts in 2023. In March 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison for stealing billions of customer funds through his trading firm Alameda Research.

His lawyers appealed both the conviction and the sentence. As of Thursday, the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit had not rendered a decision.

SBF’s motion for a new trial, filed earlier this month, claims that new witness testimony could strengthen his case. This is separate from the ongoing appeal.

Meanwhile, from behind bars, SBF has been active on social media through a proxy. He has posted several times on X in support of President Donald Trump, criticizing what he calls “political bias” in his case.

He also praised the Clarity Act, a proposed crypto market structure bill currently making its way through Congress. SBF suggested that its passage would be a win for Trump.

That move backfired. Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis, a well-known crypto advocate, responded sharply on X. “Someone’s looking for a pardon and doesn’t realize the Clarity Act would have you locked up for much longer than 25 years,” she posted.

Lummis also stated that her legislation is nothing like the bill SBF allegedly tried to influence in 2022. “We do not need — nor want — your support,” she added.

Democrat Senator Elizabeth Warren also pushed back. She called SBF “a fraudster who stole at least $8 billion from customers” and said his endorsement of the Clarity Act should “set off alarm bells.”

The probability of the bill being signed into law has dropped by about 16% in the past week, according to prediction market Polymarket. It now stands at a 69% chance of passing before the end of the year.

SBF’s hopes of a pardon also seem dim. The White House has on multiple occasions stated that Trump is not considering a pardon for Bankman-Fried.

Trump has pardoned other crypto figures, including former CEO Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht. SBF is not among them.

Former Alameda CEO Caroline Ellison, who testified against SBF, was released in January after 440 days in custody. Ryan Salame, former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, was sentenced to over seven years and remains in prison.

As of publication, no ruling has been issued on SBF’s appeal, and the March 11 deadline for prosecutors to respond to his new trial motion remains in place.