nytimes.com
Consulting with a lawyer who has ties to President Trump. Reaching out to Washington lobbyists. And sitting for a jailhouse interview with Tucker Carlson.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul who was once a top Democratic donor, has embarked on a long-shot campaign to secure a pardon from the Trump administration, six people with knowledge of the matter said.
The effort has been driven by a small group of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s supporters, including his parents, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are trying to help their son escape the 25-year prison sentence he received after he was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in the collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX.
There is no indication that the Bankman-Frieds and their allies have reached Mr. Trump directly or discussed a potential pardon with his White House advisers.
But the push appears intended to capitalize on Mr. Trump’s transactional approach to clemency. The president has favored pardon seekers with connections to him — either personally or through lawyers and lobbyists — and claims of prosecutorial misconduct that echo his own grievances about the cases against him.
As part of the clemency effort, Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried, who are Stanford University law professors and longtime active Democrats, are consulting with Kory Langhofer, an Arizona lawyer who worked for Mr. Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. Politically connected businesspeople and Washington lobbyists have also received outreach from intermediaries who claim to be allies of Mr. Bankman-Fried, three people with knowledge of the situation said.
His supporters have also taken steps that appear calculated to seek favor with Mr. Trump in smaller ways. Mr. Bankman, who has maintained a low profile since FTX’s collapse, co-wrote an opinion piece in The Washington Post last month arguing that Mr. Trump’s plans for a sovereign wealth fund could help “dramatically increase corporate productivity.”
Mr. Bankman-Fried’s allies believe they can point to flaws in his prosecution that would resonate with Mr. Trump. “The prosecution told a story about FTX and Sam Bankman-Fried that is not correct,” Mr. Langhofer said. “If the public knew the full story, they would view it differently.”
Reached by phone on Thursday, Ms. Fried declined to comment. Bloomberg News reported in January that Mr. Bankman-Fried’s parents had met with people in Mr. Trump’s orbit to work toward a possible pardon.
A White House representative declined to comment.
So far, the push does not appear to have gained traction, the people with knowledge of the matter said. The only indication that Mr. Bankman-Fried may be making headway came this week, when he got an audience with Mr. Carlson, who is close to Mr. Trump. On Thursday, the former Fox News host published a 43-minute interview with Mr. Bankman-Fried that was recorded via video call.
Speaking from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held for the last 18 months, Mr. Bankman-Fried wore a dark brown prison outfit over a gray T-shirt and sipped from a white mug. He made an indirect pitch to Mr. Trump, arguing that at the time of his arrest, he was closer to Washington Republicans than to Democrats. He voiced cautious optimism about how Mr. Trump would unleash the crypto industry.
“Changing the guard helps,” he said.
The Bureau of Prisons has strict rules about who is allowed to communicate with inmates and which channels they can use. After the interview with Mr. Carlson was posted, Mr. Bankman-Fried was placed in solitary confinement, a person briefed on the situation said.
A representative for the Bureau of Prisons said that “this particular interview was not approved.” She declined to comment on whether Mr. Bankman-Fried, who turned 33 on Thursday, was in solitary confinement.