Overview
- The Senate approved S. Res. 772 by unanimous consent on July 15, formally stating that Sam Bankman-Fried should under no circumstances receive a presidential pardon or commutation.
- The measure is an expression of the chamber’s view and has no legal power to block a pardon because the Constitution vests clemency authority solely in the president.
- Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego introduced the resolution on June 17 as chair and ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee, framing denial of clemency as necessary to protect the rule of law and investor trust.
- Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on seven fraud-related counts, was sentenced to 25 years and ordered to forfeit $11 billion on March 28, 2024, lost a June 12, 2026 appeals challenge and filed a formal pardon petition in mid-June, with a projected release date near 2044 if no clemency is granted.
- The unanimous vote raises political pressure on the White House after President Donald Trump pardoned other crypto figures and makes the president’s response to the pardon petition a focal point for future political and regulatory debate over crypto accountability.