Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) push for a presidential pardon is facing fresh criticism, with a former prison bunkmate claiming the ex-FTX CEO has never accepted responsibility for the collapse of his crypto empire.
SBF is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for his role in the FTX scandal, but continues to appeal his conviction. He recently said he would “absolutely” welcome a pardon from President Donald Trump.
The latest criticism came from Michael Avenatti, who says he shared a prison unit with SBF.
In a series of posts on X, Avenatti claimed he repeatedly urged the former FTX CEO to acknowledge his mistakes, but SBF refused.
“Not once did he admit he’d done anything wrong,” Avenatti wrote, adding that redemption starts with accepting responsibility. He argued that someone who cannot admit wrongdoing does not deserve a pardon.
Interestingly, Avenatti also praised Bankman-Fried’s intelligence, calling him a technology visionary. However, he argued that SBF had “zero business” running a multibillion-dollar company and let his ego prevent him from bringing in experienced leadership.
According to Avenatti, if SBF had hired “an actual adult in the room” and listened to experienced executives, he might still be free today and potentially worth close to $100 billion.
He compared SBF to Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, who brought in former CEO Eric Schmidt to help scale the company. In Avenatti’s view, successful entrepreneurs recognize what they don’t know and surround themselves with people who do.
Despite the criticism and Trump’s previous denial, Bankman-Fried continues to maintain his innocence. In recent comments, he argued that he did not commit fraud and claimed FTX customers were ultimately repaid.
Critics, however, continue to point to the commingling of customer funds and the collapse of FTX as the central reasons behind his conviction, making any potential pardon highly controversial.
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