Just three years ago, Sam Bankman-Fried was the crypto king of Washington, D.C., establishing himself as a fundraising force after becoming one of the top donors to Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign. After a swift fall from grace, and a 25-year prison sentence following the collapse of his crypto exchange, FTX, Bankman-Fried is changing his tune and appealing to President Trump for a pardon. But despite his new right-wing press tour, which included an unsanctioned appearance on The Tucker Carlson Show that landed Bankman-Fried in solitary confinement, political insiders characterize the bid as a long shot.
When asked about the probability that Bankman-Fried’s campaign will yield success, one crypto lobbyist—who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly—answered: “zero.”
