Consulting with a lawyer who has ties to President Trump. Reaching out to Washington lobbyists. And sitting for a jailhouse interview with Tucker Carlson.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced cryptocurrency mogul who was once a top Democratic donor, has embarked on a long-shot campaign to secure a pardon from the Trump administration, six people with knowledge of the matter said.
The effort has been driven by a small group of Mr. Bankman-Fried’s supporters, including his parents, Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, who are trying to help their son escape the 25-year prison sentence he received after he was convicted of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering in the collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX.
There is no indication that the Bankman-Frieds and their allies have reached Mr. Trump directly or discussed a potential pardon with his White House advisers.
But the push appears intended to capitalize on Mr. Trump’s transactional approach to clemency. The president has favored pardon seekers with connections to him — either personally or through lawyers and lobbyists — and claims of prosecutorial misconduct that echo his own grievances about the cases against him.
As part of the clemency effort, Mr. Bankman and Ms. Fried, who are Stanford University law professors and longtime active Democrats, are consulting with Kory Langhofer, an Arizona lawyer who worked for Mr. Trump’s 2016 and 2020 presidential campaigns. Politically connected businesspeople and Washington lobbyists have also received outreach from intermediaries who claim to be allies of Mr. Bankman-Fried, three people with knowledge of the situation said.
