--- title: "Sam Bankman-Fried’s Mommy and Daddy Have a New Plan: Suck Up to Trump Until He Pardons Her Beautiful Boy" description: "While Sam Bankman-Fried rots away behind bars for fraud, his parents are making the rounds in Trumpworld to plant the seeds for a pardon. " date: "2025-02-01" modified: "2025-02-01" authors: - name: "Noor Al-Sibai" job_title: "Senior Staff Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/nooralsibai" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/sbf-parents-trump-clemency" categories: - "Blockchain" - "Future Society" tags: - "donald trump" - "ftx" - "sbf" - "the digest" --- # Sam Bankman-Fried’s Mommy and Daddy Have a New Plan: Suck Up to Trump Until He Pardons Her Beautiful Boy ![While Sam Bankman-Fried rots away behind bars for fraud, his parents are making the rounds in Trumpworld to plant the seeds for a pardon. ]() *FTX's former CEO and founder Sam Bankman-Fried's mother, Barbara Fried (C), and his father, Joseph Bankman (L), leave Manhattan Federal Court after his sentencing at Manhattan Federal Court in New York City on March 28, 2024. Disgraced cryptocurrency wunderkind Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in jail on Thursday following his conviction in one of the biggest financial fraud cases in history. (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY / AFP) (Photo by TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images) \Image: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images\* ## Boy Genius While disgraced FTX cofounder Sam Bankman-Fried rots away behind bars for fraud, his parents are making the rounds in Trumpworld and trying to plant the seeds for a potential pardon. As [*Bloomberg* reports](), an unnamed insider familiar with the machinations of Joseph Bankman and Barbara Fried, the 32-year-old's Stanford professor parents, said the erudite pair have taken meetings with lawyers in President Donald Trump's orbit to discuss clemency or a pardon for their beloved boy. It's unclear who exactly SBF's parents have been meeting with, whether their efforts have borne fruit, or if knowledge of the meetings made its way to the White House before they were publicized. All the same, taking these sorts of meetings falls in line with Bankman and Fried's staunch support for their con-spawn, who they've long insisted is innocent [despite being sued themselves]() over his misdeeds. With [Trump's flurry of early pardons]() including [Silk Road mastermind Ross Ulbricht](), it makes perfect sense that the Bankman-Frieds are trying to appeal to the president's [newfound interest in all things digital](). ## Failson or Fugitive? Before he was [sentenced to 25 years]() in prison for [helming the catastrophic FTX crash]() in 2022, SBF's parents kept cropping up in coverage for being ardent defenders of their crypto lad. During pre-trial hearings in late 2022, for instance, the mop-haired crypto baron's father was seen [literally plugging his ears]() in court, [per *Coindesk*](). That same report also noted that Fried was heard "audibly laughing" during the proceedings when prosecutors referred to her son as a "fugitive." When the FTX fraudster was on trial in 2023, his mom [told *The New Yorker*]() that Bankman-Fried was the victim of a "[McCarthyite]()" witch hunt and that the government was on a "relentless pursuit of total destruction" against him. "It takes a lifetime to build up a reputation as honorable people," Fried wrote in her angry email to the magazine. "It takes five minutes to destroy it, which they now have done." That insistent defense of the professors' beautiful boy hardly made a difference during the actual trial. Between the new president's [vitriolic distaste for the prior administration]() and his [newfound love for crypto](), however, their quest for SBF's clemency may actually get somewhere. It's a fascinating dispatch from the circles of influence surrounding the newly reinaugurated president — and we're likely to see way more of this kind of [cryptoworld influence-seeking]() moving forward. **More on Trump and crypto:** [*Trump’s Meme Coin Is Down 64 Percent From Its High*]() ## Author At Futurism, I've often been drawn to unpacking the narratives that underlie technological, scientific and medical progress, with a special interest in areas of conflict and ambiguity that end up setting agendas and steering the fates of both elites and the hoi polloi. I'm a committed generalist, but I often find myself returning to work involving NASA and the private space sector, the effects of AI on media and society, and the mechanics of the pharmaceutical industry, with a specific focus on the spread of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. Prior to Futurism, I worked for publications ranging from Media Matters and Truthdig to Raw Story and Bustle. I'm also the author of "Myspace Scene Queens," a 2024 title in Instar Books' acclaimed "Remember the Internet" series. My work at Futurism has been cited by outlets including the New Yorker, Slate, Nieman Lab, the Verge, the MIT Technology Review, the Sunday Times, and the Daily Beast. I grew up in North Carolina, attended the University of North Carolina at Asheville, and now live in Brooklyn, New York. In my free time, I'm an avid reader and music fan; you can probably find me at a local poetry reading, concert, underground rave, or DJ set. I'm the proud parent of an ineffable orange cat named Mee-Mow. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()