{"id":466524,"date":"2025-02-21T11:48:08","date_gmt":"2025-02-21T11:48:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/?p=466524"},"modified":"2025-02-21T11:48:58","modified_gmt":"2025-02-21T11:48:58","slug":"sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/people\/sam-bankman-fried\/\">Sam Bankman-Fried<\/a>, the convicted founder of the collapsed <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/companies\/ftx\/\">FTX<\/a> exchange, maintains his innocence, claiming political bias influenced his prosecution.<\/p>\n<p>In an interview with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=T17Ug09w4eE&t=216s\"><em data-start=\"170\" data-end=\"188\">The New York Sun<\/em><\/a>, he argued that his case was unfairly handled and suggested that his legal troubles stemmed from his shifting political stance.<\/p>\n<p>This interview emerged less than a few days after <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/ftx-creditors-begin-receiving-1-2-billion-in-payouts-with-interest-on-kraken\/\">FTX began repaying customers<\/a> impacted by its November 2022 collapse.<\/p>\n<h2>FTX's liquidity issues<\/h2>\n<p>Despite being <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/former-ftx-ceo-sam-bankman-fried-sentenced-to-25-years-in-landmark-fraud-case\/\">sentenced to 25 years<\/a> for orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in US history, Bankman-Fried insists FTX was never insolvent. He argued that the exchange experienced a liquidity crunch rather than a collapse.<\/p>\n<p>According to him:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;I think the single biggest thing is that FTX was never insolvent. It was never bankrupt. Neither was Alameda. They always had enough to make good on all of their liabilities. What happened was a liquidity crisis, a run on the bank.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He stated that before the exchange collapsed in November 2022, FTX had a net positive value of about $10 billion, plus an additional $20 billion in equity.<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried also pointed out that <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/companies\/alameda-research\/\">Alameda Research<\/a> had already begun liquidating assets to cover liabilities, but the panic-driven withdrawals outpaced the firm's ability to generate cash quickly.<\/p>\n<p>The convicted FTX founder also accused law firm <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/companies\/sullivan-cromwell-llp\/\">Sullivan & Cromwell<\/a> of mishandling the exchange's restructuring. He suggested that rather than resolving the crisis, the firm stalled efforts to repay customers.<\/p>\n<p>Bankman-Fried said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;A law firm took over the company and, you know, spent the next two years sort of twiddling its thumbs and pretending there is no money left.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>Political retaliation<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"1393\" data-end=\"1614\">The former billionaire believes his legal troubles stem from political motivations. He argued that FTX executives who cooperated with authorities received lighter sentences because of their ties to the Democratic Party.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1616\" data-end=\"1828\">Before his downfall, Bankman-Fried was one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/evidence-shows-bankman-fried-and-associates-gave-over-230m-to-friends-family-politicians-pacs-and-special-interests\/\">largest donors<\/a> to President <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/people\/joe-biden\/\">Joe Biden's<\/a> campaign. However, he claims his political stance shifted due to the administration's hostile regulatory approach to digital assets.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"1616\" data-end=\"1828\">He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"1616\" data-end=\"1828\">&#8220;<span class=\"s5\">I became really frustrated and disappointed with what I saw of the Biden administration and the Democratic Party. <\/span><span class=\"s5\">Particularly on crypto policy, the Biden administration was just incredibly destructive and difficult to work with.&#8221;<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"1616\" data-end=\"1828\">However, he noted that the Republicans were more receptive and that he had secretly contributed to the party's causes\u2014a fact he believes may have influenced his prosecution.<\/p>\n<h2>Cozying up to Trump<\/h2>\n<p data-start=\"2367\" data-end=\"2544\">Bankman-Fried further likened his prosecution to what President <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/people\/donald-trump\/\">Donald Trump<\/a> has faced, describing both cases as examples of the Department of Justice's (DoJ) politicization.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2546\" data-end=\"2755\">The FTX founder pointed to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan as a common adversary in his and Trump's cases. Kaplan presided over Bankman-Fried's fraud trial and Trump's sexual abuse and defamation cases involving writer E. Jean Carroll for which he was found liable.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2546\" data-end=\"2755\">He said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"2655\" data-end=\"2740\">&#8220;I know President Trump had a lot of frustrations with Judge Kaplan. I certainly did as well.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p data-start=\"2546\" data-end=\"2755\">Trump has previously criticized Kaplan, calling him biased. With Trump's return to office, Bankman-Fried's remarks appear to signal an attempt to align himself with the president, who can grant pardons.<\/p>\n<p data-start=\"2742\" data-end=\"2960\">Beyond his efforts, reports suggest his parents are actively <a href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-frieds-parents-reportedly-eye-trump-pardon-for-jailed-son\/\">working to secure a pardon<\/a>. His claims of injustice and political targeting add to speculation that he hopes for clemency under a Trump administration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Sam Bankman-Fried, the convicted founder of the collapsed FTX exchange, maintains his innocence, claiming political bias influenced his prosecution. In an interview with The New York Sun, he argued that his case was unfairly handled and suggested that his legal troubles stemmed from his shifting political stance. This interview emerged less than a few days [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":720,"featured_media":466535,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[77901,76799,77968,60793,29],"tags":[76833,77611,77612],"post_folder":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.9 (Yoast SEO v21.9.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Sam Bankman-Fried argues that a liquidity crisis, not insolvency, led to FTX&#039;s downfall, accusing a law firm of mishandling restructuring.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Sam Bankman-Fried argues that a liquidity crisis, not insolvency, led to FTX&#039;s downfall, accusing a law firm of mishandling restructuring.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"CryptoSlate\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T11:48:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-02-21T11:48:58+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sbf-ftx.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"630\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Oluwapelumi Adejumo\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cryptoslate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cryptoslate\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Oluwapelumi Adejumo\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\"},\"author\":{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/#person\",\"name\":\"Oluwapelumi Adejumo\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/\"},\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/#authorimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-300x300.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-300x300.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Oluwapelumi Adejumo\"},\"jobTitle\":\"Senior Reporter\",\"description\":\"Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.\",\"worksFor\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/hardeyjumoh\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\",\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\"]},\"headline\":\"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-21T11:48:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-21T11:48:58+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\"},\"wordCount\":565,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"ftx\",\"Sam Bankman-Fried\",\"SBF\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Bankruptcy\",\"Crime\",\"Featured\",\"Legal\",\"People\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#respond\"]}],\"copyrightYear\":\"2025\",\"copyrightHolder\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"}},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\",\"name\":\"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-02-21T11:48:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-02-21T11:48:58+00:00\",\"description\":\"Sam Bankman-Fried argues that a liquidity crisis, not insolvency, led to FTX's downfall, accusing a law firm of mishandling restructuring.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/\",\"name\":\"CryptoSlate\",\"description\":\"Cryptocurrency News and Real-time Coin Data\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"NewsMediaOrganization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"CryptoSlate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":1000,\"caption\":\"CryptoSlate\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/t.me\/cryptoslatenews\",\"https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/iq.wiki\/wiki\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKggKIiRDQklTRlFnTWFoRUtEMk55ZVhCMGIzTnNZWFJsTG1OdmJTZ0FQAQ\",\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/media-outlet\/cryptoslate\",\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cryptoslatenews\"],\"publishingPrinciples\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles\",\"ownershipFundingInfo\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/how-cryptoslate-makes-and-spends-money\/\",\"correctionsPolicy\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback\",\"ethicsPolicy\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles\",\"foundingDate\":\"2017-08-04\",\"founder\":[{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Nate Whitehill\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"name\":\"Matthew Blancarte\"}],\"contactPoint\":[{\"@type\":\"ContactPoint\",\"contactType\":\"customer support\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/contact\/\",\"availableLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ContactPoint\",\"contactType\":\"sales\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/contact\/?topic=advertising#contact-form\",\"availableLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ContactPoint\",\"contactType\":\"newsroom\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback\",\"email\":\"tips@cryptoslate.com\",\"availableLanguage\":\"en-US\"}],\"masthead\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/about\/#masthead\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b333928a322ba4c082e8bb2ad0f14eb6\",\"name\":\"Oluwapelumi Adejumo\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Oluwapelumi Adejumo\"},\"description\":\"Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.\",\"jobTitle\":\"Reporter\",\"worksFor\":\"CryptoSlate\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions","description":"Sam Bankman-Fried argues that a liquidity crisis, not insolvency, led to FTX's downfall, accusing a law firm of mishandling restructuring.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions","og_description":"Sam Bankman-Fried argues that a liquidity crisis, not insolvency, led to FTX's downfall, accusing a law firm of mishandling restructuring.","og_url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/","og_site_name":"CryptoSlate","article_published_time":"2025-02-21T11:48:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-02-21T11:48:58+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":630,"url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/sbf-ftx.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Oluwapelumi Adejumo","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cryptoslate","twitter_site":"@cryptoslate","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Oluwapelumi Adejumo","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/"},"author":{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/#person","name":"Oluwapelumi Adejumo","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/"},"image":{"@type":"ImageObject","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/#authorimage","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-300x300.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-300x300.jpg","caption":"Oluwapelumi Adejumo"},"jobTitle":"Senior Reporter","description":"Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.","worksFor":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/hardeyjumoh","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/oluwapelumi-adejumo","https:\/\/muckrack.com\/oluwapelumi-adejumo"]},"headline":"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions","datePublished":"2025-02-21T11:48:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-21T11:48:58+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/"},"wordCount":565,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"},"keywords":["ftx","Sam Bankman-Fried","SBF"],"articleSection":["Bankruptcy","Crime","Featured","Legal","People"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#respond"]}],"copyrightYear":"2025","copyrightHolder":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"}},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/","name":"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website"},"datePublished":"2025-02-21T11:48:08+00:00","dateModified":"2025-02-21T11:48:58+00:00","description":"Sam Bankman-Fried argues that a liquidity crisis, not insolvency, led to FTX's downfall, accusing a law firm of mishandling restructuring.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/sam-bankman-fried-seeks-clemency-empathizes-with-president-donald-trump-over-legal-troubles\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Sam Bankman-Fried seeks clemency, empathizes with President Donald Trump over legal convictions"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/","name":"CryptoSlate","description":"Cryptocurrency News and Real-time Coin Data","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization"},"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"NewsMediaOrganization","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#organization","name":"CryptoSlate","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/05\/c-logo.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"caption":"CryptoSlate"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/twitter.com\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/company\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/c\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/t.me\/cryptoslatenews","https:\/\/www.crunchbase.com\/organization\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/iq.wiki\/wiki\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqKggKIiRDQklTRlFnTWFoRUtEMk55ZVhCMGIzTnNZWFJsTG1OdmJTZ0FQAQ","https:\/\/muckrack.com\/media-outlet\/cryptoslate","https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@cryptoslatenews"],"publishingPrinciples":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles","ownershipFundingInfo":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/how-cryptoslate-makes-and-spends-money\/","correctionsPolicy":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback","ethicsPolicy":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#editorial-principles","foundingDate":"2017-08-04","founder":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nate Whitehill"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Matthew Blancarte"}],"contactPoint":[{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"customer support","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/contact\/","availableLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"sales","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/contact\/?topic=advertising#contact-form","availableLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"ContactPoint","contactType":"newsroom","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/disclaimers\/editorial-policy\/#corrections-feedback","email":"tips@cryptoslate.com","availableLanguage":"en-US"}],"masthead":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/about\/#masthead"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b333928a322ba4c082e8bb2ad0f14eb6","name":"Oluwapelumi Adejumo","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/profile-oluwapelumi-adejumo-1-150x150.jpg","caption":"Oluwapelumi Adejumo"},"description":"Oluwapelumi values Bitcoin's potential. He imparts insights on a range of topics like DeFi, hacks, mining and culture, underlining transformative power.","jobTitle":"Reporter","worksFor":"CryptoSlate","url":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/author\/oluwapelumi-adejumo\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466524"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/720"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=466524"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":466546,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/466524\/revisions\/466546"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/466535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=466524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=466524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=466524"},{"taxonomy":"post_folder","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cryptoslate.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_folder?post=466524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}