One of Sam Bankman-Fried’s last credible paths to freedom closed Friday, as a federal appeals court upheld his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence, ruling that the case against him was, in the court’s words, “strong and conservatively stated.”
A three-judge panel of the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals issued the 42-page opinion on June 12, rejecting every argument made by Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team to undo the November 2023 conviction that fueled one of the largest financial collapses in cryptocurrency history. According to To Reuters.
The core of the appeal was the claim that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan had stripped Sam Bankman-Fried of a fair defense by suppressing evidence proving that FTX possessed sufficient assets to cover customer withdrawals.
Defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro He said The appeals panel decided in November 2025 that “Mr. Bankman-Fried’s trial was fundamentally unfair because the jury heard only one side of the story.”
Prosecutors countered that Kaplan’s ruling was correct: the fraud charges hinged on embezzlement, not on the possibility that assets might cover liabilities under different circumstances. The appellate panel agreed, finding that the trial court’s evidentiary rulings were sound and that the government’s case against Sam Bankman Fried was overwhelming.
How FTX fell
The stock market value reached $32 billion. He collapsed In November 2022 once it was revealed that the balance sheet of Alameda Research – Bankman-Fried’s hedge fund – was built on the stock exchange token FTX rather than standalone assets. This revelation led to a customer flight, opening an $8 billion hole in FTX’s accounts.
Three former Bankman-Fried deputies – Alameda CEO Caroline EllisonFTX co-founder Gary Wang, and head of engineering Nishad Singh – each pleaded guilty and testified against him. Ellison, the star witness in the trial, told the jury that Bankman-Fried gave her instructions to transfer customer deposits to Alameda to repay loans from cryptocurrency lenders. “Sam directed me to commit these crimes,” she said from the stand.
The court commander An $11 billion forfeiture and three years of supervised release followed Bankman-Fried’s sentencing in March 2024. Ellison received two years and was released in January 2026 after serving 14 months.
The Court of Appeal ruling was issued a few weeks after Bankman-Fried He also filed a formal petition for clemency With the Department of Justice’s Office of the Pardon Attorney, to seek a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The request was listed as a “post-sentence pardon” — not a commutation — and Trump has publicly said he would not grant it.
Judge Kaplan to reject A separate new trial motion under Rule 33 was filed in April 2026, calling Bankman-Fried’s claim that witnesses were intimidated by the government “largely conspiratorial and completely inconsistent with the record.” Bankman-Fried withdrew an earlier version of this proposal on April 22 without prejudice.
With the Second Circuit now closed, his legal options are narrow to filing a habeas corpus petition — a route with a lower success rate than direct appeals — or a petition to the Supreme Court.
What’s next for Sam Bankman-Fried?
Sam Bankman-Fried remains detained at a low-security federal prison near Santa Barbara, California, and is not eligible for release until 2044.
In prison interview In an interview with Fox Business this month, he maintained his position: “I did not steal users’ money.” He pointed to FTX’s bankruptcy recovery of crypto assets, which allowed the company to pay creditors more than 100 cents on the dollar — a figure he considers evidence of FTX’s fundamental solvency, though courts at all levels have rejected that framework.
Friday’s ruling brings to an end a chapter that federal prosecutors called a “fraud of epic proportions” — a case that has shaken institutional confidence in cryptocurrency markets, sparked congressional hearings, and forced exchanges across the industry to reform their proof-of-reserves practices.
Back in January, President Donald Trump He said He will not pardon former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried, and refuses to pardon a convicted cryptocurrency executive.
