Will Trump Pardon Sam Bankman-Fried Of Collapsed FTX? Why It May Not Happen

The parents of Sam Bankman-Fried are reportedly aiming to get their son a presidential pardon following the full and unconditional pardon granted by President Donald Trump to Ross Ulbricht, the founder of darkweb marketplace Silk Road.

It is unclear whether Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried have actually reached out directly to the new White House, but it's not a surprise for the cryptocurrency community if they did, considering the recent pardons for some high-profile figures.

A Difficult Journey Toward Freedom

The parents of the disgraced crypto exchange founder have set their eyes on a presidential pardon, Bloomberg reported Thursday, citing a person familiar with the matter.

SBF's parents have met with some lawyers and other prominent figures within the U.S. president's circle, the report added. However, it is unclear if the said figures are people working under the Trump White House.

Even if Bankman-Fried's parents do kick off a movement to free their son, it may not be an easy journey, at least based on the more than 11 years that the #FreeRoss movement trudged to help Ulbricht obtain his freedom earlier this month.

To determine the likelihood of a Trump presidential pardon for SBF, once the darling of the crypto crowd before his defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX spectacularly collapsed late in 2022, it would only be fitting to compare his case with that of Ulbricht.

Silk Road vs FTX – 2 Different Cases, 2 Different Endings

First, the Silk Road and FTX sagas were two very different things. Silk Road was a darknet website that Ulbricht created in 2011. The darkweb marketplace allowed Bitcoin transactions for various items and products.

However, Silk Road was found to have been used by malicious actors and illegal sellers. The illegal items sold on the marketplace ranged from weapons, stolen passports, illegal drugs, and even hacking equipment.

The U.S. government ultimately shut down Silk Road in 2013 and Ulbricht was arrested for his creation and operation of the website.

FTX, on the other hand, was one of the world's largest crypto exchanges by trading volume before an early November 2022 report exposed close balance sheet ties between FTX and Alameda, the exchange's sister companies.

As per the CoinDesk report, Alameda's balance sheet relied heavily on the FTT currency, a crypto token launched by FTX. Alameda had massive trading positions on the FTT coin and as news of the questionable balance sheets spread, the FTT token's price plunged.

Customers rushed to withdraw their funds from FTX, but the exchange was short of some $8 billion. By Nov. 11, 2022, dozens of entities with exposure to the exchange filed for bankruptcy protection.

He was arrested in December 2022 in the Bahamas and U.S. prosecutors filed charges against the fallen FTX founder, ranging from money laundering to wire fraud.

Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda and also a former flame of SBF, was the prosecution's star witness during the SBF trial. She revealed how Bankman-Fried knowingly created a crypto empire that didn't have the necessary foundations for a viable business.

While many people shunned Ulbricht due to the revelations related to the use of Silk Road for illegal product sales, the ramifications of FTX's collapse were immensely devastating as it included the fall of some crypto firms and entities exposed to the FTX exchange without prior knowledge of its poorly-founded structure.

Since the #FreeRoss movement started after Ulbricht was thrown into prison, many crypto users gradually warmed up to him and through the years, even key crypto figures called for his release. He was faced with two life sentences for the Silk Road saga, while SBF was sentenced to 25 years. However, nearly a year since Bankman-Fried's conviction, there has been no sign of a #FreeSam movement.

Many crypto figures believe SBF's actions and leadership of the deeply-corrupted exchange is a key reason why regulators are hot on the heels of crypto businesses even if they are operating legally or within the bounds of regulation.

Outrage within Crypto Community Over Report

Prominent crypto sleuth ZachXBT had a harsh reaction to the report that SBF's parents want a pardon for their son. "No they should lock his parents up as well," he wrote, along with a screenshot of a report regarding SBF's parents allegedly having helped their "run their son's crypto empire, and that for their work – some official, some unofficial – they were handsomely rewarded."

Petey B., another well-followed figure in the space, had similar sentiments over earlier revelations that SBF's parents had a role in his business.

For one crypto user, Ulbricht and Bankman-Fried's case are different, saying the Silk Road creator only built a "truly permissionless marketplace using Bitcoin," while SBF "stole billions of dollars from his customers."

Ethereum user and prominent crypto figure Quinten noted that a pardon for SBF is "the pardon the crypto community does not want." He recommended pardons for Edward Snowden and Julian Assange.

It remains to be seen whether Trump will consider a pardon for Bankman-Fried if his parents do push for it, but in an event contract on decentralized market prediction platform Polymarket that asked crypto bettors which individuals Trump may pardon in his first 100 days, SBF's chances are only at 5% as of early Friday.

Originally published on IBTimes