A federal appeals court upheld Friday the fraud conviction and prison sentence of Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the failed FTX cryptocurrency exchange.In November 2023, a New York federal jury convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven counts of wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering following the collapse of FTX. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. In March 2024, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for multiple fraud schemes related to his now-defunct business.
The defendant appealed his conviction and sentence because he felt his guilty verdict was tainted by a judge’s improper evidentiary rulings.
A three-judge panel on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit unanimously disagreed with his argument, stating the evidence against him “was, conservatively stated, robust.”
“While he was publicly reassuring customers, investors and regulators that FTX customer funds were safe, he was simultaneously using FTX as his own personal piggy bank, spending customer funds on real estate, political contributions, and investments,” Circuit Judge Barrington Parker wrote in the opinion. “Given the overwhelming evidence against him, we are not convinced that the isolated statements Bankman-Fried points to, tainted the jury’s verdict.”
