Bankman-Fried Files Pardon Request

Is this righting the mistakes of a broken legal system or is this an undeserving request?

Published 2 hours ago

Story

Above: Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried on New York City on August 11, 2023. Image credit: Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Spin

Narrative A

A pardon for Bankman-Fried would be appropriate. He was railroaded and FTX customers got paid back in full, with interest. The trial judge blocked key expert testimony on the terms of service that explicitly authorized the lending arrangements at the heart of the prosecution's case. Sending a first-time, nonviolent offender to prison for 25 years while the bankruptcy lawyers walked away with $2 billion was a grotesque miscarriage of justice.

Forbes

The Untold Story of Sam Bankman-Frie on Substack

Narrative B

Bankman-Fried pumped stolen customer funds into Democratic campaigns, becoming the second-largest individual donor to the party in the 2022 midterms — $27 million to one PAC alone. Americans are still living with the elected officials whose fraud was bought. A man who refuses to acknowledge any wrongdoing, even in private, has no business asking for a pardon and President Trump should not give him one.

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