{"id":34582,"date":"2026-07-16T08:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/u-s-senate-unanimously-opposes-clemency-for-sam-bankman-fried\/"},"modified":"2026-07-16T08:08:34","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T08:08:34","slug":"u-s-senate-unanimously-opposes-clemency-for-sam-bankman-fried","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/u-s-senate-unanimously-opposes-clemency-for-sam-bankman-fried\/","title":{"rendered":"U.S. Senate unanimously opposes clemency for Sam Bankman-Fried"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p class=\"is-style-lead\">The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution opposing any federal clemency for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_785a25f153f07878616c27b166fd6040\" 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>Senators unanimously backed a resolution opposing any pardon, commutation or other federal clemency for Bankman-Fried.<\/li>\n<li>Bankman-Fried remains imprisoned for FTX fraud while his formal presidential pardon application continues seeking review.<\/li>\n<li>The resolution follows Trump\u2019s earlier pardons of other prominent crypto figures, including Zhao and Ulbricht.<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>Senators agreed to the measure by unanimous consent on July 15, meaning no senator objected when it was brought before the chamber.<\/p>\n<p>The resolution states that Bankman-Fried should \u201cunder no circumstances\u201d receive executive clemency, including a presidential pardon or sentence commutation. The Senate measure does not limit the president\u2019s constitutional pardon power, but it places the chamber on record against clemency for the former FTX chief.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Senate backs bipartisan resolution without objection<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Senate approved <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailypress.senate.gov\/wednesday-july-15-2026\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">S.Res.772<\/a>, according to the U.S. Senate Daily Press. The measure also states that denying clemency would support the rule of law and the integrity of the U.S. financial system.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-x wp-block-embed-x\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Agreed to by unanimous consent: S. Res. 772, A resolution expressing the sense of the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/hashtag\/Senate?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Senate<\/a> that under no circumstances should Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation, and affirming the Senate&#8217;s commitment to the rule of law and\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SenatePress\/status\/2077521872263033126?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gallego.senate.gov\/news\/press-releases\/gallego-and-lummis-introduce-resolution-disapproving-of-any-sam-bankman-fried-pardon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">introduced the resolution<\/a> on June 17. Lummis, a Republican from Wyoming, and Gallego, a Democrat from Arizona, serve on the Senate Banking Committee\u2019s digital assets subcommittee. When introducing the measure, Lummis said Bankman-Fried \u201chad his day in court,\u201d while Gallego called for him to remain imprisoned.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Bankman-Fried continues to pursue a pardon<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The Senate action follows Bankman-Fried\u2019s request for presidential clemency. As previously reported by crypto.news, the former FTX chief submitted a pardon application in June while continuing efforts to challenge his conviction and 25-year prison sentence.<\/p>\n<p>His legal options narrowed days later when an appeals court upheld his conviction. As reported by crypto.news, a three-judge panel rejected arguments that the trial court had wrongly limited evidence that Bankman-Fried wanted to present in his defense. The ruling left his conviction and sentence in place, though routes for further review remain available.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>FTX collapse remains central to Senate opposition<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>A federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven fraud and conspiracy charges linked to the collapse of FTX. Prosecutors accused him of moving billions of dollars in customer funds from the exchange to Alameda Research and using the money for investments, political donations and other spending.<\/p>\n<p>A judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison in March 2024. Bankman-Fried has continued to dispute parts of the government\u2019s case and has sought legal and political routes to reduce or overturn his punishment. Federal prison records cited in recent reporting indicate that his projected release date falls in 2044.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Trump\u2019s earlier crypto pardons shape the backdrop<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The resolution arrives after President Donald Trump granted clemency to other figures linked to the crypto industry. Trump pardoned Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht in January 2025 and later pardoned Binance founder Changpeng Zhao in October 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried has not received support from the White House. As previously reported, Trump said in January that he did not plan to pardon the FTX founder. A White House spokesperson later referred reporters back to those remarks after Bankman-Fried filed his formal application.<\/p>\n<p>The Senate resolution remains nonbinding and cannot block a president from granting clemency. However, its unanimous passage shows that no senator present objected to formally opposing a pardon or commutation for Bankman-Fried.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a nonbinding resolution opposing any federal clemency for FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried.\u00a0 Summary Senators unanimously backed a resolution opposing any pardon, commutation or other&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34583,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34582","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\/34582","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=34582"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34582\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34584,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34582\/revisions\/34584"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}