Hey, warden, you’re gonna wanna hear this one—this prisoner says he shouldn’t be here!

Sam Bankman-Fried, the FTX cryptocurrency exchange founder about three years into a 25-year prison sentence for around $11 billion in fraud against FTX customers, investors, and lenders, presumably thinks the amount of time he’s served so far should just about square the bill. In a prison interview with The Economist’s Money Talks podcast, Bankman-Fried continued to insist on his innocence even as his lawyers argue the $11 billion forfeiture in the case (an amount basically equal to what he stole) should be thrown out on constitutional grounds.

FTX was “a legitimate and successful business,” but had a “run on the bank, which is a thing that happens with margin businesses,” Bankman-Fried said. He said his key mistake was failing to resist the takeover of FTX by shadowy, insidious forces working against it: “Parties adverse to the company and stakeholders took control. When I needed to fight that, I was weak instead.”

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers are pursuing a petition before the Supreme Court and are also seeking a presidential pardon from Donald Trump, who uses pardons as patronage and is happy to hand them out to other powerful men who claim to be victims of partisan lawfare. ” Multiple media outlets reported earlier this year that Bankman-Fried had applied to the Justice Department for a pardon.

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