Nikolas Sargeant
TL;DR
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The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution stating Sam Bankman-Fried should never receive a pardon or sentence commutation.
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The bipartisan measure was led by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego, leaders of the Senate Banking Committee's digital assets subcommittee.
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Bankman-Fried is serving a prison sentence following his 2023 conviction on seven fraud-related charges tied to FTX's collapse.
The U.S. Senate has unanimously approved a resolution declaring that former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried should "under no circumstances" receive a presidential pardon or sentence commutation.
The resolution passed through unanimous consent on Wednesday, meaning no senator objected to the measure, underscoring broad bipartisan agreement over the fate of the convicted cryptocurrency executive.
Agreed to by unanimous consent: S. Res. 772, A resolution expressing the sense of the #Senate that under no circumstances should Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation, and affirming the Senate's commitment to the rule of law and…
— Senate Press Gallery (@SenatePress) July 15, 2026
Bipartisan Support From Crypto Policy Leaders
The resolution was introduced on June 17 by Senator Cynthia Lummis, Republican of Wyoming, and Senator Ruben Gallego, Democrat of Arizona.
The two lawmakers serve as the ranking Republican and Democrat, respectively, on the Senate Banking Committee's Digital Assets Subcommittee, making them two of Congress' most influential voices on cryptocurrency policy.
Lummis, a longtime advocate for the digital asset industry and sponsor of several crypto-related legislative initiatives, argued that Bankman-Fried had already received due process through the U.S. justice system.
Gallego was equally direct, concluding his remarks when introducing the resolution with the statement: "Keep him locked up."
While the Senate resolution does not have the force of law and cannot prevent a president from issuing a pardon or commutation, it sends a clear bipartisan political message opposing any future clemency for the former FTX executive.
The measure reflects continued congressional scrutiny of one of the largest financial scandals in cryptocurrency history.
Bankman-Fried Serving Sentence Until Around 2044
Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on seven criminal counts related to the collapse of FTX.
Federal prosecutors described the case as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history, alleging that more than $8 billion in customer funds was misappropriated.
Based on his sentence, he is not expected to become eligible for release until approximately 2044.
Earlier this year, President Donald Trump stated that he had no plans to pardon Bankman-Fried.
The position came despite Trump's decision to grant clemency to several other high-profile figures connected to the cryptocurrency industry and financial crimes, including Binance founder Changpeng Zhao and Silk Road creator Ross Ulbricht.
How the FTX Collapse Unfolded
The downfall of FTX stemmed from the close financial relationship between the cryptocurrency exchange and Alameda Research, the trading firm also controlled by Bankman-Fried.
According to prosecutors, billions of dollars in customer deposits held by FTX were transferred to Alameda, where the funds were allegedly used to finance speculative trading, venture capital investments, political contributions, and luxury real estate purchases in the Bahamas.
Investigators also found that Alameda received preferential treatment within FTX's trading system, allowing it to avoid risk controls that applied to other customers.
The crisis escalated in November 2022 after a leaked Alameda balance sheet revealed that a significant portion of the firm's assets consisted of FTT, a token created by FTX itself.
Concerns over Alameda's financial position intensified after Binance announced plans to liquidate its FTT holdings, triggering a sharp decline in the token's value and sparking a wave of customer withdrawals.
Unable to meet redemption requests, FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, 2022, marking one of the most significant collapses in cryptocurrency industry history.
