Source: Blockchain Knight

BeInCrypto reported earlier that former FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has attracted much attention due to his early release from prison.

The tweets from Musk and others indicate that this is very likely.

So what are the chances of the FTX founder leaving prison less than a year after his conviction?

In 2020, at the peak of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried donated $5.2 million to a super action committee supporting Biden. He is the second-largest individual donor to the Democratic Party after Michael Bloomberg.

Historically, donors and their affiliates have had tremendous advantages in convicting and pardoning themselves.

Take Marc Rich as an example. This "notorious" oil trader evaded at least US$50 million in taxes as early as 2021. However, Rich was pardoned on the last day of Clinton's term.

The amnesty is controversial because Rich's ex-wife Denise is a major donor to the Democratic Party. She made substantial donations to Clinton's presidential library and the Democratic National Committee.

Similarly, Paul Pogue is another convicted tax fraudster who was pardoned by Trump in 2020.

According to reports, this is because Pogue’s family donated more than $200,000 to Trump’s campaign.

Prediction market expert Kalshi posted on to the Democratic Party (98%), making him the second largest donor to the Democratic Party, and there is now a 12% chance that Biden will pardon him. ”

Given the historical cases where donors are more likely to receive clemency. , Sam Controversy over Bankman-Fried's potential pardon by Biden is also normal.

In addition, Biden pardoned Michael Conahan last week.

Conahan was sentenced to 17 years in prison for the "child-for-money" scandal. He accepted bribes from private juvenile detention centers in exchange for sending children to them, often for minor crimes.

This is concrete proof that Biden may not shy away from pardoning major criminals.

One of the most controversial aspects of Bankman-Fried's trial was the omission of campaign finance-related charges against him.

Initially, Bankman-Fried faced eight criminal charges, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating campaign finance laws.

However, this campaign finance charge was dropped in July 2023.

MostBankman-Fried's charges were initially dropped due to a treaty obligation in the Bahamas. In essence, The Bahamas does not favor the inclusion of this particular allegation in the extradition request.

However, prosecutors said they would hold separate trials on these charges.

The purpose of the second trial was to address dropped campaign finance charges, as well as charges related to bribery and operating an unlicensed money transfer business.

However, in December 2023, the prosecutors announced that they would not hold a second trial because the evidence in the second trial would largely repeat what had been presented in the first trial.

Earlier this year, Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison for multiple wire fraud and other charges.

However, given the scale and impact of his crimes, many believed the sentence was too light.

The collapse of FTX caused customers and creditors to lose more than 16 billion US dollars, and the cold winter of Crypto assets also caused the market to lose more than 100 billion US dollars. Therefore, as one of the largest financial scandals in U.S. history, many viewed the sentencing as lenient.

Prominent attorney Richard W. Painter wrote: "Sam Bankman-Fried and his associates hope to receive a pardon or reduced sentence in exchange for campaign contributions they stole from FTX investors. Any president who agrees to do so would Should be impeached for bribery."

Prosecutors initially asked for a 50-year sentence, arguing that the scope and severity of Sam Bankman-Fried's crimes were "historic."

Prosecutors highlighted the huge financial losses suffered by FTX customers and the erosion of public trust in the Crypto asset market.

In addition, Caroline Ellison, who actively collected client funds from FTX and Bankman-Friend, was only sentenced to 2 years in prison for cooperating with prosecutors.

Most surprisingly, Gary Wang, the author of the backdoor code who provided Alameda with unlimited credit, avoided jail entirely.

Given these facts, and the fact that critics believe the sentence is too lenient, the crypto asset industry is clearly anticipating the possibility of leniency for Sam Bankman-Fried.

It is important to note, however, that the connection between donations and pardons is not always consistent.

The president may grant a pardon for other reasons, and it is difficult to clearly prove that a donation was the sole or primary motivating factor.

But what is certain is that because there are cases of wealthy people donating money to get out of legal disputes, it will inevitably cause people to worry about morality.