Sam Bankman-Fried loses appeal to overturn fraud convictions and 25-year prison sentence

Former cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried has lost his bid to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence over the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange he founded.

In a unanimous decision on Friday, a three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based 2nd United States Circuit Court of Appeals said prosecutors’ evidence against Bankman-Fried “was, conservatively stated, robust.” Circuit Judge Barrington Parker wrote on behalf of the panel that while Bankman-Fried was publicly reassuring customers, investors and regulators that FTX customer funds were safe, he was simultaneously using FTX as his own personal piggy bank, spending customer funds on real estate, political contributions, and investments.

Bankman-Fried’s lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment. They may next ask all the active judges on the 2nd Circuit to hear the case, or ask the US Supreme Court to take up the case. Bankman-Fried is also seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump, according to the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney. Neither the White House nor the Justice Department immediately responded to requests for comment. Trump last year pardoned another crypto tycoon, Changpeng Zhao, founder of the Binance exchange, who was convicted of violating US money-laundering laws.

Bankman-Fried, who had been one of the cryptocurrency sector’s most influential figures and a multibillionaire before FTX’s spectacular collapse in 2022, was found guilty on seven felony charges by a federal jury in Manhattan in 2023. Prosecutors with the Manhattan US Attorney’s Office said he stole $8 billion from FTX customers to plug losses at his crypto-focused hedge fund, Alameda Research, in what they termed a “fraud of epic proportions.” Bankman-Fried had pleaded not guilty to the two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy. At his trial, he admitted to making mistakes running FTX, but testified that he never stole funds.

In appealing the conviction, Bankman-Fried’s defense lawyers argued that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, improperly prevented Bankman-Fried from introducing evidence to back up his belief that FTX had enough funds to cover customer withdrawals. The appeals court disagreed, pointing to legal precedent that fraud occurs the moment a defendant tricks someone into handing over money or property, even if the defendant intends to eventually make the victim whole. “FTX customers were defrauded as soon as Bankman-Fried transferred their money to Alameda regardless of how strongly he believed he might later return the money,” Parker wrote.

Three of Bankman-Fried’s former deputies pleaded guilty over their involvement in the case and testified against their onetime boss at his trial. Bankman-Fried is being held at a low-security federal prison near Santa Barbara, California. He is eligible for release in 2044.