Second Circuit Affirms Sam Bankman-Fried's 25-Year Prison Term in FTX Fraud Case
Sam Bankman-Fried has lost his most significant appeal to date, tightening the former FTX chief executive's remaining legal options as a separate clemency request continues to sit with the White House.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday unanimously upheld Bankman-Fried's 2023 fraud conviction and the 25-year sentence imposed after the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker, writing for the panel, called the government's case "robust," saying the trial record provided ample support for the jury's verdict.
Prosecutors argued Bankman-Fried diverted about $8 billion of customer money from FTX to Alameda Research, the trading firm he founded, describing the conduct at trial as a "fraud of epic proportions." A federal jury convicted him in 2023 on seven counts, including fraud and conspiracy.
The appeals court endorsed prosecutors' central narrative: Bankman-Fried publicly told customers, investors and regulators that assets were safe while using FTX funds for personal spending, political donations, investments and real estate purchases.
The panel rejected claims that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrongly excluded evidence the defense said would have supported Bankman-Fried's belief that FTX could meet customer withdrawals. Citing precedent, the court held that fraud is complete when money is obtained through deception. Under that standard, customers were defrauded once their funds were moved to Alameda, regardless of any later intent or belief about repayment.
Bankman-Fried has consistently maintained he did not steal customer funds, acknowledging management failures at FTX but denying criminal wrongdoing. Earlier attempts to win a new trial also fell short. He filed and later withdrew a Rule 33 motion asserting newly discovered evidence, and Judge Kaplan later denied a retrial request after concluding the witnesses in question were not newly discovered.
Prosecutors also contested defense assertions that FTX remained solvent before its collapse, pointing to reports that the exchange held just 105 Bitcoin against customer claims of roughly 100,000 Bitcoin.
Separately, Bankman-Fried has applied for a presidential pardon, described in filings as a "pardon after completion of sentence." Public backing appears limited. President Donald Trump told The New York Times earlier this year that he did not plan to pardon Bankman-Fried, and the White House has directed reporters to those comments. Senator Cynthia Lummis has also said she hoped Trump would not grant clemency given the losses suffered by customers.
Now 34, Bankman-Fried is serving his sentence at a low-security federal prison near Santa Barbara, California. Bureau of Prisons records list his current release eligibility as 2044. His lawyers did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the ruling.
Bankman-Fried can still ask the full Second Circuit to rehear the case en banc or petition the U.S. Supreme Court, but Friday's decision closes a major route to overturning the conviction.
For the crypto sector, the ruling stands as a major accountability marker stemming from one of the industry's largest failures. It also reinforces the ongoing regulatory and criminal risks faced by exchanges and executives, underscoring that deceptive commingling of customer assets can carry severe penalties.
