Sam Bankman-Fried appeal denied as court backs 25-year sentence for FTX collapse

Sam Bankman-Fried has lost his appeal against his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence associated with the collapse of FTX.

The decision was issued Friday by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan. Bankman-Fried, once a billionaire and one of the cryptocurrency industry’s most prominent figures, was convicted in 2023 on seven criminal charges related to FTX’s 2022 collapse.

Prosecutors alleged that he diverted $8 billion in customer funds, characterizing the misconduct as a massive fraud. Although Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty and testified that he never stole customer money, the jury found him guilty on all counts.

His appeal centered on claims that trial judge Lewis Kaplan improperly restricted evidence that could have supported his view that FTX had sufficient assets to honor customer withdrawals. Prosecutors argued that extensive evidence, including testimony from former senior executives, clearly established his guilt.

Those executives, who entered guilty pleas and cooperated with authorities, testified that Bankman-Fried directed the use of customer funds to cover losses at Alameda Research.

At sentencing in March 2024, Kaplan said Bankman-Fried was aware that his conduct was wrongful and had merely underestimated the risk of being caught. He is now serving his sentence in a low-security federal prison near Santa Barbara, California, with a projected release date of 2044.

This is a developing story.

Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.