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My former colleagues at Fortune report confirmation from the Trump White House that the President will not pardon Sam Bankman-Fried (or at least doesn’t plan to currently).
·
Feb 18
This was first mentioned in an NYT interview with Trump in early January, but it didn’t seem to break through. Leo Schwartz at Fortune got a fresh confirmation from a White House spokesman - probably good, since you can’t place too much stock in what Trump says in any interview.
There are scant clues to the thinking here in either instance. The Times interviewer presented Trump with a list of names of potential pardon recipients, and Trump indicated four who were not in consideration for a pardon: Sean “Diddy” Combs; Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro; former Senator Robert Menendez; and Sam Bankman-Fried.
Notably, Trump declined to tell the NYT he wouldn’t pardon Derek Chauvin, George Floyd’s murderer.
·
March 13, 2025
There’s a little bit to pick apart here.
First, let’s be clear that the nature of these crimes has nothing to do with the decision: Some partisans have highlighted Trump’s pardons of Ross Ulbricht, who at least some people believe was a victim of federal overreach. But Trump has also pardoned complete charlatans like Nikola’s Trevor Milton, real estate scammers Julie and Todd Chrisly, and of course drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernandez.
·
April 2, 2025
The Maduro thing seems pretty obvious (why would you kidnap a guy and then pardon him), but both Menendez and Bankman-Fried are strongly associated with the Democratic Party. And I don’t think it’s oversimplifying Trump’s nature to say that Diddy will not be pardoned in large part because he’s Black - and maybe in some roundabout way because he seems to have been running an upstart competitor to the Epstein network Trump belonged to.
·
Feb 11
Raw political (and racial) loyalty has long been my read of what Trump’s lizard brain would retain despite SBF’s recent pathetic attempts to tack to the right.
The White House statement emphasized that “The President is the ultimate decider on all pardons.”
Dark Markets is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Subscribe
Welcome to your weekly Dark Markets newsletter. We’re taking a long weekend, so today’s newsletter is a quick rundown of some of the best news we’ve had in a while.
Subscribe
My former colleagues at Fortune report confirmation from the Trump White House that the President will not pardon Sam Bankman-Fried (or at least doesn’t plan to currently).
·
Feb 18
This was first mentioned in an NYT interview with Trump in early January, but it didn’t seem to break through. Leo Schwartz at Fortune got a fresh confirmation from a White House spokesman - probably good, since you can’t place too much stock in what Trump says in any interview.
There are scant clues to the thinking here in either instance. The Times interviewer presented Trump with a list of names of potential pardon recipients, and Trump indicated four who were not in consideration for a pardon: Sean “Diddy” Combs; Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro; former Senator Robert Menendez; and Sam Bankman-Fried.
Notably, Trump declined to tell the NYT he wouldn’t pardon Derek Chauvin, George Floyd’s murderer.
·
March 13, 2025
There’s a little bit to pick apart here.
First, let’s be clear that the nature of these crimes has nothing to do with the decision: Some partisans have highlighted Trump’s pardons of Ross Ulbricht, who at least some people believe was a victim of federal overreach. But Trump has also pardoned complete charlatans like Nikola’s Trevor Milton, real estate scammers Julie and Todd Chrisly, and of course drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernandez.
·
April 2, 2025
The Maduro thing seems pretty obvious (why would you kidnap a guy and then pardon him), but both Menendez and Bankman-Fried are strongly associated with the Democratic Party. And I don’t think it’s oversimplifying Trump’s nature to say that Diddy will not be pardoned in large part because he’s Black - and maybe in some roundabout way because he seems to have been running an upstart competitor to the Epstein network Trump belonged to.
·
Feb 11
Raw political (and racial) loyalty has long been my read of what Trump’s lizard brain would retain despite SBF’s recent pathetic attempts to tack to the right.
The White House statement emphasized that “The President is the ultimate decider on all pardons.”
Dark Markets is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Subscribe
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Dark Markets👁️ Bullish and EOS: “A Fraud in Plain Sight”
The team behind Bullish brutally rugpulled their earliest investors. They'll do the same to public markets.
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Dark Markets👁️ Bullish and EOS: “A Fraud in Plain Sight”
The team behind Bullish brutally rugpulled their earliest investors. They'll do the same to public markets.
Dark Markets👁️ The Metaverse is On Its Last Legs
Say goodbye to the Previous Thing. Also: Salesforce gets f*cked by AI, Tesla's Roadster scam, and more.
Dark Markets👁️Not Even Past: Bullish and Ethereum's Shared Origin at Bitcoin Miami 2014
Ages and ages and ages thence
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