Sam Bankman-Fried Asks Supreme Court to Overturn FTX Fraud Conviction

Sam Bankman-Fried has filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the fraud conviction that resulted in a 25-year sentence. The filing follows the Second Circuit’s decision in June to uphold the conviction and argues that review is urgently needed to address legal errors at his trial.

In the petition, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers contend the trial judge should have allowed him to prove that FTX customers did not ultimately suffer losses, asserting there were sufficient assets to repay customers and that repayments were made with substantial interest. Prosecutors at sentencing countered that he orchestrated a scheme that misappropriated billions from FTX customers, and the broader case also involved $1.7 billion taken from FTX investors and $1.3 billion taken from Alameda lenders — amounts that the Justice Department said were not customer deposits.

The petition also challenges an $11 billion forfeiture imposed on Bankman-Fried, calling it a “crushing fine” and arguing it violates the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition on excessive fines. The filings note that repayments to creditors occurred through FTX’s bankruptcy plan, which fixed claim values in U.S. dollars as of November 2022, a time when Bitcoin traded at about $16,000.

Bankman-Fried is pursuing multiple avenues to undo his conviction. He has applied to President Donald Trump for clemency — a request listed as a “pardon after completion of sentence” — though Trump said in January he would not consider a pardon and the Senate voted unanimously against clemency in July. Bankman-Fried has maintained his innocence, withdrew a motion for a new trial this year, and saw a three-judge panel of the Second Circuit affirm his conviction after a month-long trial in Manhattan. His rise and fall include founding FTX in 2019, growing it to a roughly $32 billion valuation, and the exchange’s collapse in a liquidity crisis in November 2022, followed by his arrest in the Bahamas in December.