A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that under no circumstances should Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or commutation, and affirming the Senate's commitment to the rule of law and integrity of the United States financial system.

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 772 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

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119th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 772

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that under no circumstances should 
Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or 
 commutation, and affirming the Senate's commitment to the rule of law 
          and integrity of the United States financial system.

_______________________________________________________________________

                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                             June 17, 2026

   Mr. Gallego (for himself and Ms. Lummis) submitted the following 
    resolution; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION

 
 Expressing the sense of the Senate that under no circumstances should 
Samuel Bankman-Fried receive executive clemency, including a pardon or 
 commutation, and affirming the Senate's commitment to the rule of law 
          and integrity of the United States financial system.

Whereas Samuel Bankman-Fried co-founded FTX, a digital asset exchange that grew 
        to become one of the largest in the world in only 3 years after its 
        founding, and Alameda Research, a digital asset hedge fund, trading on 
        the trust and confidence of millions of customers and investors 
        worldwide;
Whereas, on November 2, 2023, a Federal jury in the Southern District of New 
        York found Bankman-Fried guilty on all 7 counts with which he was 
        charged, including 2 counts of wire fraud, 1 count of securities fraud, 
        1 count of commodities fraud, 1 count of money laundering conspiracy, 1 
        count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud on customers, and 1 count of 
        conspiracy to commit wire fraud on lenders;
Whereas Federal prosecutors described the FTX collapse as ``one of the biggest 
        financial frauds in American history'', in which Bankman-Fried 
        deliberately and secretly diverted billions of dollars in FTX customer 
        funds to Alameda Research, which he used as his personal ``piggy bank'', 
        according to the Securities and Exchange Commission;
Whereas, on March 28, 2024, United States District Court Judge Lewis A. Kaplan 
        sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in Federal prison and ordered the 
        forfeiture of $11,000,000,000, finding that FTX customers suffered 
        losses more than $8,000,000,000, equity investors lost more than 
        $1,700,000,000, and lenders to Alameda Research lost more than 
        $1,300,000,000;
Whereas Bankman-Fried and his co-conspirators used stolen customer funds to 
        purchase luxury real estate in the Bahamas, provide personal loans to 
        himself and associates, and fund a lavish lifestyle wholly inconsistent 
        with the interests of the customers and investors who had entrusted 
        their funds to FTX;
Whereas Bankman-Fried has refused to accept responsibility for his crimes, 
        continued to claim innocence and to characterize his prosecution as 
        ``lawfare'', and has spent his time in prison lobbying for clemency 
        rather than cooperating with efforts to make victims whole;
Whereas efforts of the FTX bankruptcy estate to compensate victims remain 
        ongoing, with claims still unresolved;
Whereas Bankman-Fried formally submitted a petition for a presidential pardon to 
        the Office of the Pardon Attorney of the Department of Justice in 2026, 
        with the application listed as ``pardon after completion of sentence'' 
        and currently pending in Department of Justice records;
Whereas clemency would erase the conviction of Bankman-Fried, weaken deterrence, 
        and send a deeply damaging message that perpetrators of large-scale 
        financial fraud can escape permanent accountability; and
Whereas the people of the United States, and the millions of victims who lost 
        savings, investments, and livelihoods to the FTX fraud, deserve an 
        unambiguous statement from their elected representatives that Samuel 
        Bankman-Fried is not above the law and remains fully accountable for his 
        role in one of the most brazen financial crimes in the Nation's history 
        and that accountability is essential to maintaining public confidence in 
        United States financial markets: Now, therefore, be it
    Resolved, That the Senate--
            (1) expresses the unambiguous sense of the Senate that 
        Samuel Bankman-Fried should not, under any circumstances, 
        receive a presidential pardon, commutation, or any other form 
        of Federal clemency;
            (2) affirms that the 25-year sentence imposed upon Bankman-
        Fried reflects the extraordinary scale and deliberateness of 
        his crimes, his lack of remorse, and the catastrophic harm 
        inflicted upon millions of victims, and that such a sentence 
        serves the interests of justice;
            (3) rejects any characterization of the FTX prosecution as 
        ``lawfare'', and affirms the integrity of the Federal criminal 
        justice process that produced Bankman-Fried's conviction by a 
        unanimous jury and sentence by an independent Federal judge; 
        and
            (4) reaffirms the Senate's commitment to protecting the 
        integrity of United States financial markets, safeguarding 
        investors and consumers, holding accountable those who commit 
        large-scale fraud and theft, and ensuring that the rule of law 
        applies equally to all persons.
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