A U.S. appeals court has rejected Sam Bankman-Fried’s attempt to overturn his fraud conviction and prison sentence linked to the collapse of FTX, leaving in place the criminal case against one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most prominent former executives. The ruling keeps intact his 25-year sentence in a case prosecutors said involved $8 billion in stolen customer funds.
Appeals Court Rejects Challenge
A three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Bankman-Fried’s bid to reverse the conviction and prison term tied to the failure of the cryptocurrency exchange he founded.
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Bankman-Fried was convicted in Manhattan in 2023 on seven felony charges after prosecutors accused him of stealing $8 billion from FTX customers. He had pleaded not guilty to two fraud counts and five conspiracy counts. During the trial, he acknowledged management mistakes but denied stealing funds.
Defence Argued Evidence Was Blocked
In his appeal, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrongly blocked evidence that they said would have supported Bankman-Fried’s belief that FTX had enough money to meet customer withdrawals.
Prosecutors opposed the appeal, saying trial evidence overwhelmingly established his guilt. That evidence included testimony from three former deputies who had pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors.
Former Deputies Testified On Customer Funds
The former employees testified that Bankman-Fried directed them to use FTX customer funds to cover losses at Alameda Research, his crypto-focused hedge fund. At sentencing in March 2024, Judge Kaplan said Bankman-Fried knew his conduct was wrong but made a very bad bet on avoiding detection.
Bankman-Fried, once one of the cryptocurrency sector’s most influential figures, is now held at a low-security federal prison near Santa Barbara, California. He is eligible for release in 2044, and the appellate ruling leaves the conviction and sentence unchanged.
