Bankman-Fried: 25-year FTX fraud sentence and the appeal so far

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is serving a 25-year prison sentence after a jury in the Southern District of New York found him guilty of all seven counts against him on 2 November 2023. A US appeals court upheld his fraud conviction on 12 June 2026. He has since asked the US Supreme Court to review the case, and that request has not yet been decided.

The FTX fraud conviction

FTX collapsed in November 2022, when a surge in customer withdrawals exposed a shortfall and the exchange went into bankruptcy. Prosecutors said Mr Bankman-Fried had secretly moved customer deposits to Alameda Research, a trading firm he also controlled. They said the money was used to cover losses, fund investments, make political donations and pay for personal spending.

The trial began in Manhattan on 3 October 2023 before US District Judge Lewis Kaplan. Mr Bankman-Fried gave evidence in his own defence. Caroline Ellison, the former chief executive of Alameda, testified against him under a plea agreement with the authorities.

The jury returned guilty verdicts on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, on 2 November 2023. The counts concerned the alleged defrauding of FTX customers and of lenders to Alameda, along with related conspiracy offences.

The sentence

Judge Kaplan sentenced Mr Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison in March 2024. The court also ordered him to forfeit about $11 billion. Forfeiture is a court order to surrender money or property linked to the offending. It is separate from the prison term.

The appeal to the Second Circuit

The defence case

Mr Bankman-Fried appealed to the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, which covers New York. His lawyers asked for his convictions to be overturned and for a retrial before a different judge. They argued that the trial was unfair because of Judge Kaplan's rulings on evidence and procedure. They said the jury heard mainly the prosecution's account.

A central complaint was that the defence was limited in what it could say about FTX's ability to repay customers. The defence also challenged the jury instructions and the forfeiture order. Prosecutors asked the court to affirm both the conviction and the sentence.

The ruling

The appeal was argued on 4 November 2025. On 12 June 2026 a three-judge panel unanimously rejected it. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker, writing for the court, described the prosecution's evidence as "conservatively stated, robust".

The panel held that the government did not need to prove that Mr Bankman-Fried intended to cause his customers an economic loss. It also found that any later rise in the value of the assets he bought was irrelevant to whether a fraud had been committed. It found no error in the trial judge's rulings and rejected the challenge to the forfeiture order.

The court issued its mandate on 4 August 2026. A mandate is the formal step that makes an appeal ruling effective and ends the appeals court's control of the case.

Other attempts to reopen the case

The new trial motion

In February 2026 Mr Bankman-Fried, acting without a lawyer, asked Judge Kaplan for a new trial. The judge questioned whether lawyers or family members had helped draft the filings. Mr Bankman-Fried tried to withdraw the motion in April 2026, but Judge Kaplan ruled on it anyway and refused it on 28 April 2026.

The pardon application

Mr Bankman-Fried also applied to the Department of Justice for a presidential pardon. The application was filed in June 2026 and was listed as pending. The White House has said it does not expect a pardon to be granted, and President Donald Trump has said he did not plan to grant one. In July 2026 the US Senate unanimously passed a resolution opposing clemency. The resolution is non-binding and cannot stop a president from acting.

The Supreme Court petition

On 10 September 2026 Mr Bankman-Fried's lawyers filed a petition for a writ of certiorari. This is a request that the Supreme Court agree to hear a case. It is not an appeal in the usual sense, and the justices can refuse without hearing argument. The court takes only a small share of the petitions it receives, about 1% according to one report.

The petition makes two main arguments:

• Jurors heard evidence suggesting that customers lost money, even though the prosecution's theory did not require proof of loss. The defence says it was then unfairly blocked from showing that FTX and Alameda held enough assets to repay customers.
• The $11 billion forfeiture order breaches the constitutional ban on excessive fines under the Eighth Amendment.

The petition also says FTX customers have since been repaid through the bankruptcy process. The Second Circuit has already rejected the point that eventual repayment answers a fraud charge. It said customers were defrauded once their money was moved to Alameda, however strongly he believed it might be returned.

The Supreme Court has extended the government's deadline to respond from 15 October to 16 November 2026. His lawyer has said the justices could decide whether to take the case by the end of 2026 or early 2027. If review is granted, a ruling could follow by June 2027, though that timetable could slip.

Where the case stands

Mr Bankman-Fried's conviction, 25-year sentence and forfeiture order all remain in force. The Supreme Court petition and the pardon application are still undecided. If the justices decline to hear the case, the Second Circuit's ruling will stand, and a pardon or other clemency would be the only route left.