{"id":22853,"date":"2026-02-27T06:47:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/looking-for-a-pardon-senators-fire-back-at-sam-bankman-fried-over-clarity-act\/"},"modified":"2026-02-27T06:47:29","modified_gmt":"2026-02-27T06:47:29","slug":"looking-for-a-pardon-senators-fire-back-at-sam-bankman-fried-over-clarity-act","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/looking-for-a-pardon-senators-fire-back-at-sam-bankman-fried-over-clarity-act\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Looking for a pardon\u2019: Senators fire back at Sam Bankman-Fried over CLARITY Act"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has reignited controversy from prison after publicly endorsing the proposed CLARITY Act, calling it a \u201chuge milestone for crypto\u201d and \u201ca huge achievement\u201d for Donald Trump.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_14963939cc85318403a9b3228850c184\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sam Bankman-Fried praised the CLARITY Act and credited Donald Trump, triggering immediate criticism from U.S. senators.<\/li>\n<li>Cynthia Lummis dismissed SBF\u2019s comments and suggested the legislation would not benefit him legally.<\/li>\n<li>Elizabeth Warren warned that SBF\u2019s backing should concern lawmakers debating crypto market structure reform.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Sam Bankman-Fried backs CLARITY Act, draws swift rebuke from Lummis and Warren<\/h2>\n<p>In a <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SBF_FTX\/status\/2026646974766666235\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">post<\/a> on X, Bankman-Fried claimed he had championed similar legislation aimed at limiting the regulatory authority of former SEC Chair Gary Gensler before his prosecution. He suggested that Gensler \u201chelped Biden\u2019s DOJ put me behind bars,\u201d reviving familiar allegations that his case was politically influenced.<\/p>\n<p>The comments quickly drew bipartisan backlash.<\/p>\n<p>Senator Cynthia Lummis responded sharply, writing: \u201cSomeone\u2019s looking for a pardon and doesn\u2019t realize the CLARITY Act would have you locked up for much longer than 25 years.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>She <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenLummis\/status\/2027034522517184633\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">added<\/a> that her crypto legislation differs fundamentally from what she described as the bill Bankman-Fried \u201ctried to buy from Congress\u201d in 2022. \u201cWe do not need\u2014nor want\u2014your support,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Senator Elizabeth Warren also weighed in, warning that Bankman-Fried\u2019s endorsement should \u201cset off alarm bells.\u201d Warren reiterated her stance that any crypto market structure legislation must prioritize investor protection and financial stability.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sam Bankman-Fried, the fraudster who stole at least $8 billion from customers using his crypto exchange, just endorsed the CLARITY Act.<\/p>\n<p>That should set off alarm bells.<\/p>\n<p>Any crypto market structure bill must protect investors, our financial system, and American taxpayers. <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/a0V6SPOgE3\">https:\/\/t.co\/a0V6SPOgE3<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Elizabeth Warren (@SenWarren) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SenWarren\/status\/2026740091734085646?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">February 25, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Bankman-Fried, who is serving a lengthy federal sentence following his conviction over the collapse of FTX, has recently attempted to re-enter public discourse through media outreach and social media commentary. Previous efforts to sway political opinion, including outreach linked to Trump, have largely failed to gain traction.<\/p>\n<p>The episode shows the heightened political sensitivity surrounding crypto regulation, particularly as lawmakers debate market structure reforms amid lingering fallout from FTX\u2019s multibillion-dollar collapse.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has reignited controversy from prison after publicly endorsing the proposed CLARITY Act, calling it a \u201chuge milestone for crypto\u201d and \u201ca huge achievement\u201d for Donald&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10548,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-22853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22853"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22854,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22853\/revisions\/22854"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10548"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}