Sam Bankman-Fried Loses Appeal as Federal Court Upholds 'Robust' Fraud Conviction

In brief A federal appeals court unanimously upheld Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence. Judges rejected his argument that FTX could have repaid customers, finding his misrepresentations alone constituted fraud. With his appeal denied, a presidential pardon appears to be his only remaining path out of prison. FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried lost a bid to overturn his 25-year prison sentence and fraud conviction Friday, with a panel of federal appeals judges unanimously upholding the verdict. The Manhattan-based judges, of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, picked apart Bankman-Fried’s arguments for overturning the judgment, finding each of them uncompelling. “Bankman-Fried makes these arguments in the face of a trial at which the government’s evidence against him was, conservatively stated, robust,” the decision reads. In 2023, the FTX founder and one-time crypto billionaire was found guilty by a Manhattan jury on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison, a term he is currently serving out at a federal prison in California.  Much of Bankman-Fried’s appeal had hinged on claims that, even if he had misappropriated funds from FTX to cover the losses of the exchange’s sister hedge fund, Alameda Research—and to make political contributions and purchase real estate, among other personal expenditures—the company was still solvent and would have been able to repay those debts. Today’s decision flat-out rejected that argument, citing a 2025 Supreme Court case that held a defendant commits fraud whenever they use “a material misstatement” to trick victims into handing over money, even if the fraudster does not seek to cause the victim net losses. Bankman-Fried falsified business records to conceal the ways in which he spent FTX customer funds in ways those investors had not authorized. The appeals judges underscored how the existence of those transactions—and associated, falsified records—were never refuted by Bankman-Fried. “Bankman-Fried does not meaningfully contest the substantial evidence the government marshalled at trial,” they said. For years now, the fallen crypto mogul has sought any way out of his quarter-century prison sentence. He has more recently begun attempting to curry favor with President Donald Trump by incessantly flattering him on social media. While Trump has pardoned several crypto founders since his return to office, he has signaled he doesn’t intend to grant clemency to Bankman-Fried. The crypto industry and its allies in Washington have pushed back forcefully against the notion. That hasn’t stopped the FTX founder from pushing forward with hopes for a pardon, which after today’s ruling now appears to be his last resort. Bankman-Fried formally applied for a pardon earlier this week, and the campaign hasn’t been wholly unsuccessful—the rapper Drake called for his release from prison in a recent, critically panned album. Daily Debrief Newsletter Start every day with the top news stories right now, plus original features, a podcast, videos and more. Your Email Get it! Get it!