According to a recent report from Fortune, insiders in the political scene have already labeled SBF’s pardon attempt as a desperate move. In a bid to increase his chances, he has rebranded himself, aligning more with Republican ideologies.

Last week, Bankman-Fried broke prison rules by giving an unauthorized interview to Tucker Carlson from his jail cell. In the interview, he praised Republicans while distancing himself from Democrats. This violation landed him in solitary confinement.

An anonymous crypto lobbyist assessed SBF’s chances of a successful pardon campaign as “near zero,” taking into account the dynamics of Trump’s administration.

SBF’s strategic pivot towards right-wing views could be seen as an effort to charm Trump into granting him a pardon, following his conviction in the FTX fraud case. There’s speculation that his case might pique Trump’s interest—not due to the crypto connection, but because of Trump’s own issues with the legal system.

A recent New York Times report revealed that his family and allies are lobbying for his pardon, leveraging Trump’s history of granting clemency to those close to him or those who share his grievances.

However, the probability of SBF’s pardon bid succeeding is slim. SBF hasn’t shown any remorse and lacks substantial support. Furthermore, Trump’s commitment to “law and order” could outweigh his grievances with the legal system.

Legal experts warn that pardoning Bankman-Fried might alienate Trump’s support base, especially the working-class Americans and small investors who suffered losses due to FTX’s downfall.

In his first week in office, Trump pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road, delivering on a campaign promise. He condemned the prosecutors involved, deeming Ulbricht’s double life sentence plus 40 years as “excessive.”

The post Ex-FTX CEO SBF’s Trump Pardon Bid: A High-Stakes Political Play Unlikely to Succeed appeared first on Crypto Market Insights: Dive In with CryptoUpdate.io.

“The said interview was not sanctioned,” a spokesperson for the US Bureau of Prisons communicated to The New York Times on March 7.

A source familiar with the matter disclosed that Bankman-Fried was relocated to solitary confinement in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after the Carlson interview was made public. This is where he has been detained since August 2023. The Bureau of Prisons reportedly has stringent regulations regarding inmate communication.

The contentious interview, posted on Carlson’s YouTube channel on March 6, has already amassed over 730,000 views at the time of writing. Bankman-Fried, in his chat with Carlson, shared insights into his prison life and his perspectives on cryptocurrency regulation in the US. Expressing his feelings, he told Carlson that he didn’t perceive himself as “a criminal.”

While Trump’s pardon was not directly broached by Carlson, the ex-FTX CEO seemed open to Republican ideologies during their conversation. This has sparked rumors of a potential Trump pardon for Bankman-Fried. Cryptocurrency predictions platform Polymarket reported on March 7 that, “the likelihood of a pardon for SBF has almost doubled” since the interview aired.

Interestingly, Trump had pardoned Ross Ulbricht, the Silk Road founder, who had been in jail for 12 years, just a day after his inauguration on Jan. 21. Meanwhile, in September 2024, Bankman-Fried’s legal team lodged an appeal against his seven felony charges and 25-year prison sentence. They argued in the 102-page brief that the ex-FTX CEO was “never presumed innocent,” leading to alleged bias from the prosecutors, the presiding judge, and media coverage.

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