Bets on Sam Bankman-Fried's pardon surges to 12% on Polymarket

Wagers on the Polymarket prediction market concerning a pardon for former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) surged from 5.6% to 12% within 12 hours, following the recent pardon of Binance CEO Changpeng ‘CZ’ Zhao by the US government. Another related market, predicting SBF's release from custody in 2025, also saw its odds increase significantly. SBF is currently serving a 25-year sentence and his appeal is unlikely to yield results this year, making a presidential pardon his most realistic path to early release. Industry experts and lawyers largely disagree that SBF deserves a similar pardon to CZ, noting the vast difference in the severity of their crimes; CZ faced compliance issues related to anti-money laundering laws, while SBF was convicted of massive fraud involving billions in customer funds. Furthermore, a crypto lawyer noted that SBF is politically toxic in Washington, making a pardon from the Trump administration highly improbable.

(Source：Cointelegraph)