Trump rules out Sam Bankman-Fried pardon in NYT interview

The US president reportedly said he had no intention of pardoning the former FTX CEO, and defended his family’s connections to the crypto industry.

US President Donald Trump reportedly will not grant a pardon to Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year sentence for his role in the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX.

According to a Thursday interview with Trump by The New York Times, the president said he had no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried and others, including music producer Sean Combs and former New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez. Bankman-Fried has been behind bars since August 2023 when a federal judge revoked his bail before his criminal trial. 

In the same interview, Trump pushed back against questions regarding potential conflicts of interest with the cryptocurrency industry. The president and his family have connections to the Bitcoin mining company American Bitcoin, the platform behind the USD1 stablecoin World Liberty Financial and through his personal memecoin, Official Trump (TRUMP).

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