Former cryptocurrency billionaire and FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has lost his appeal to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence, marking another major setback in one of the largest financial fraud cases in the crypto industry’s history.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals upheld the conviction, ruling that the evidence presented during the trial was overwhelming and rejecting claims that the proceedings were unfair. The court affirmed that Bankman-Fried misused billions of dollars in customer funds from the now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange.
Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on multiple fraud and conspiracy charges linked to the collapse of FTX, which filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after revelations that customer funds had been diverted to support losses at its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research. Prosecutors described the scheme as one of the largest financial frauds on record.
The appeals court’s decision leaves his 25-year sentence intact, although he still has the option of seeking further review from a higher court.
Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images
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