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Source: Blockchain Knight
BeInCrypto reported earlier that former FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has attracted much attention for his early release from prison.
andMusk and others’ tweets show that this is very likely.
So, how likely is the FTX founder to leave prison less than a year after being convicted?
In 2020, at the peak of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million to the super political action committee that supports Biden.He is the second largest individual donor of the Democratic Party after Michael Bloomberg.
Historically,Political donors and their affiliates have great advantages in their own convictions and pardons.
Take Marc Rich as an example. The “notorious” oil trader evaded at least $50 million in taxes as early as 2021.However, Rich received pardon on the last day of Clinton’s term.
The pardon caused controversy because Rich’s ex-wife Denise is the main donor of the Democratic Party.She has made substantial donations to Clinton’s Presidential Library and the Democratic National Committee.
same,Paul Pogue is another convicted tax fraudster who was pardoned by Trump in 2020.
The report said this was because Pogue’s family donated more than $200,000 to Trump’s campaign.
“Sam Bankman-Fried uses millions of stolen client funds to fund political activities,” predictor Kalshi said on X.
“SBF has donated almost all of the funds to the Democratic Party (98%), making it the second largest donor of the Democratic Party, and now Biden has a 12% chance of pardoning him.”
Given the historical case where political donors are more likely to receive leniency, it is also normal for Sam Bankman-Fried to be pardoned by Biden..
In addition, Biden had pardoned Michael Conahan last week.
Conahan was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the scandal of “exchanging children for money.”He accepted bribes from private youth detention centers, which he often sent children to in exchange for minor offenses.
This is a concrete proof that Biden may not evade pardons for major criminals.
The most controversial point in the trial of Bankman-Fried was that the government missed his allegations related to campaign funds.
Initially, Bankman-Fried faced eight criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violation of campaign finance laws.
However, the campaign funding charge was dropped in July 2023.
Bankman-Fried’s charges were initially revoked due to a treaty obligation in the Bahamas.Essentially, the Bahamian government disapproves of including this specific allegation in the extradition request.
However, prosecutors claim that they will be tried separately on the allegations.
The purpose of the second trial was to deal with the revoked campaign funds allegations, as well as some allegations related to bribery and operating remittance business without a license.
However, in December 2023, the prosecutor announced that it would not conduct the second instance because the evidence in the second instance will largely repeat what had been proposed in the first instance.
Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison earlier this year on multiple telecom frauds and other charges.
However, given the scale and impact of his crime, many people believe that the sentencing is too light.
FTX’s collapse has cost customers and creditors more than $16 billion, and the cold winter of Crypto assets has also cost the market more than $100 billion..Therefore, as one of the biggest financial scandals in U.S. history, many believe that the sentencing is lenient.
“Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates want pardons or commutation in exchange for campaign donations they steal from FTX investors. Any president who agrees to do so should be impeached for bribery.””
Prosecutors initially demanded a sentence of 50 years in prison, deeming Sam Bankman-Fried’s crimes “historic” in scope and severity.
Prosecutors highlighted the huge economic losses suffered by FTX customers and the reduced public trust in the Crypto asset market.
also,Caroline Ellison, who actively collects client funds from FTX and Bankman-Friend, was sentenced to only 2 years in prison for working with prosecutors.
Most surprisingly, Gary Wang, the backdoor code writer who provides unlimited credit for Alameda, completely avoided jail.
Given these facts, and critics believe the sentence is too light, the Crypto asset industry clearly expects Sam Bankman-Fried to receive leniency.
However,It should be noted that the link between donations and pardons is not always consistent.
The president may approve the amnesty for other reasons, and it is difficult to clearly prove that the donation is the only or major motivational factor.
But it is certain that due to the existence of cases where the rich get rid of legal disputes through political donations, it will inevitably cause moral concerns.
