Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally sought a presidential pardon.

He is serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud and conspiracy convictions tied to one of the largest financial scandals in U.S. history.

According to a report by Politico, Bankman-Fried has applied for clemency from President Donald Trump, marking his latest effort to overturn or shorten the sentence imposed after his 2023 conviction.

The former cryptocurrency executive confirmed his interest in receiving a pardon during a recent interview with Fox Business correspondent Susan Li.

"I assume that you would want a pardon from the White House?" Li asked.

"Absolutely," Bankman-Fried replied. "It would be obviously, you know, ultimately up to the president, not up to me."

When asked whether his parents or others were lobbying the Trump administration on his behalf, Bankman-Fried declined to answer directly.

"I can't speak for them," he said.

Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy after federal prosecutors accused him of orchestrating a scheme that diverted billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX to support investments, political donations, and spending by affiliated hedge fund Alameda Research.

He was sentenced in March 2024.

Despite the conviction, Bankman-Fried has continued to deny core allegations that he intentionally stole customer assets.

"I didn't steal user funds either," he told Fox Business.

"Customers have been repaid now 170% or so on their deposits. It's one of the very few cases where the platform was over-collateralized, where customers were more than made whole."

He argued that the criminal case against him was unjustified despite the collapse of FTX and the losses suffered by customers during bankruptcy proceedings.

"And yet there was, you know, not just a criminal investigation, but a prosecution," Bankman-Fried said. "And, you know, dozens of years of sentence[s]."

Bankman-Fried also criticized the length of the bankruptcy process, noting that many customers have recovered more than the value of their original account balances due to gains in cryptocurrency prices and the liquidation of company assets.

"I can only tell you what I think and, you know, ultimately, customers have been repaid again nearly twice what they had on the platform," he said. "And it's a great disservice to them that it has taken three years."