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TinTucBitcoin recently reported on the great concern that Sam Bankman-Fried, former founder of FTX, could be released early thanks to President Biden’s pardon before leaving office.
Tweets from influential figures like Elon Musk suggest this is a significant possibility. But what is the truth behind these speculations? What are the chances of the FTX founder leaving prison before the year of his sentence is up?
Sam Bankman-Fried has donated more than $5 million to Biden’s campaign
In 2020, when FTX was at the peak of its success, Sam Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million to super PACs supporting Biden in the election. He is the second largest individual donor to the Democratic Party, behind only Michael Bloomberg.
Historically, political donors and their associates have often received significant advantages in sentencing and pardon considerations. Consider the case of Marc Rich. This infamous oil trader evaded at least $50 million in taxes in 2001. However, Rich was pardoned by Clinton on his last day in office. This pardon is controversial because Rich’s ex-wife, Denise, is a major donor to the Democratic Party. She contributed significantly to Clinton’s presidential library and the Democratic national committee.
Similarly, Paul Pogue, another convicted tax cheat, was pardoned by Donald Trump in 2020. Reports suggested that this was because the Pogue family donated more than $200,000 to Trump’s campaign.
“Sam Bankman-Fried used millions of dollars in stolen client funds to fund political campaigns. SBF donates almost exclusively to the Democratic Party (98%), making him the second largest donor to the Democratic Party. There is now a 12% chance that Biden will pardon him,” markets predict Kalshi posted on X (formerly Twitter).
So, given the controversial history of leniency for political donors, it’s not far-fetched to think that Sam Bankman-Fried could get President Biden’s attention.
In addition, President Biden pardoned Michael Conahan last week. Conahan was sentenced to 17 years as a result of the ‘kids for money’ scandal, where he accepted bribes from private juvenile detention centers to place children in these facilities, often for minor crimes .
That’s real evidence that Biden can have no hesitation in granting pardons to major criminals.
FTX founder’s campaign finance violations charges have been dropped
One of the most controversial aspects of the Bankman-Fried trial was the government’s failure to address allegations related to his campaign finances.
He initially faced eight criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating campaign finance laws. However, these campaign finance charges were dropped in July 2023.
The charges were initially dropped due to treaty binding with the Bahamas, where Bankman-Fried was extradited. Essentially, the government of the Bahamas did not agree to include this specific allegation in the extradition request.
However, the prosecutor announced that there will be a separate trial focusing on these allegations. This second trial is intended to address the dropped campaign finance charges and other charges related to bribery and operating an unlicensed money transmission business.
But in December 2023, prosecutors announced they would not pursue a second trial because the evidence largely overlapped with what was presented in the first trial.
The 25-year sentence is controversial
Earlier this year, Sam Bankman-Fried received a 25-year sentence for multiple counts of wire fraud and money laundering. However, many people believe that this sentence is light, considering the scale and impact of his crime.
The collapse of FTX cost customers and creditors more than $16 billion, and wiped more than $100 billion from the market due to crypto winter. Because it was one of the biggest financial scandals in US history, many people considered this sentence light.
“Bankman-Fried and his associates want a pardon or reduced sentence in return for the campaign contributions they stole from FTX investors. Any president who agrees to this should be impeached for bribery,” write Famous lawyer Richard W. Painter.
Prosecutors initially aimed for a 50-year sentence, arguing that Bankman-Fried’s crimes were “historic” in scope and severity. They highlighted the huge financial losses suffered by FTX customers and the decline in public trust in the cryptocurrency market.
In addition, Caroline Ellison, who directly received customer funds from FTX and Bankman-Fried, only received a 2-year sentence due to her cooperation with prosecutors. More surprisingly, Gary Wang, who wrote the code to provide unlimited credits for Alameda, avoided detention altogether. Given these events and critics saying the sentence was too lenient, there is significant expectation within the cryptocurrency industry that Sam Bankman-Fried could be on the radar for leniency. However, it should be noted that the connection between donations and amnesties is not always clear. Presidents may have other reasons for granting pardons, and it is difficult to clearly demonstrate that donations were the sole or primary motivating factor.
However, past cases have raised ethical concerns about the possibility that the wealthy can buy their way out of legal trouble with political contributions.
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