It was in October last year that U.S. President Donald Trump pardoned Binance founder Changpeng "CZ" Zhao.
He founded what would become the world's largest crypto trading exchange, but the platform often found itself at a legal crossroads. In November 2023, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Binance and Zhao with anti-money-laundering (AML) violations over illicit transactions linked to U.S.-sanctioned countries like Iran and Russia.
Zhao pleaded guilty to failing to maintain adequate AML standards and a U.S. federal judge sentenced him to four months in prison in April 2024.
But the softening stance of the Trump administration led to Zhao receiving the presidential pardon. Since then, his rival Sam Bankman-Fried or "SBF" has also been attempting to gain the same favor from the president.
Related: After CZ's pardon, could Sam Bankman-Fried be next?
Why was Bankman-Fried convicted?
Bankman-Fried founded the FTX crypto exchange in 2019, and its derivative offerings made the platform extremely popular among traders. In fact, it was the world's third-largest crypto exchange in terms of trading volume at its peak in July 2021.
But FTX's interactions with its sister concern, Alameda Research, proved to be fraudulent.
In 2017, Bankman-Fried had already founded Alameda Research. Technically a crypto trading firm, it operated like a hedge fund. His then-girlfriend, Caroline Ellison, worked there as the CEO.
FTX was found to be committing financial fraud by channeling customer funds to its senior executives by pooling money via Alameda Research. When customers sensed potential fraud, they rushed to withdraw their funds from FTX.
The action made the crypto exchange file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November 2022.
The court convicted Bankman-Fried of seven counts of fraud in November 2023. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024.
But Zhao's clemency appears to have stirred hope in the FTX founder that perhaps he, too, could land on Trump's pardon list.
Bankman-Fried's net worth peaked at around $26 billion in early 2022, making him one of the youngest billionaires in the world on paper. His fortune evaporated in November 2022 when FTX collapsed and filed for bankruptcy, wiping out the value of his equity in the exchange.
Within days of the collapse, Bloomberg and Forbes removed him from their billionaire lists as his net worth fell to near zero.
More News:
FTX founder's pardon bid fails
Bankman-Fried has been running an aggressive social media campaign on X so that Trump lends a sympathetic ear to his case. He made it clear that his friend handles the X account but the views are his own.
"FTX was always solvent," he recently made the claim but the post received a community post saying, "FTX was not always solvent."
The posts also attempt to paint him as a critic of the Democratic Party and a supporter of the Republican Party. He recently accused the Democrats of censoring social media and hailed Trump's Truth Social for allegedly upholding free speech.
This is a remarkable turnaround for the crypto founder who was a major donor to the Democratic Party.
But no such tricks came to his rescue as the White House has officially made it clear that Trump has no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried.
A White House spokesperson reiterated to Fortune that the president does not intend to offer any relief to the convicted crypto founder, the publication reported .
The spokesperson referred to Trump's comments in which he said he won't pardon Bankman-Fried.
"The President is the ultimate decider on all pardons,"the spokesperson wrote.
Not just Bankman-Fried — several other high-profile names hoping for Trump's attention are also off the list.
In an interview with The New York Times last month, Trump had said there is no pardon for former musician Sean "P Diddy" Combs , former Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro , former New Jersey senator Robert Menendez, and the FTX founder.
Related: Trump will not pardon Sam Bankman-Fried
This story was originally published by TheStreet on Feb 24, 2026, where it first appeared in the MARKETS section. Add TheStreet as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
