FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Fraud Conviction
Bankman-Fried was convicted last year on fraud and conspiracy charges.
Updated Apr 11, 2024, 6:36 p.m. Published Apr 11, 2024, 6:25 p.m.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed to appeal his conviction and sentence for fraud and conspiracy charges on Thursday, hours before his deadline to do so.
Bankman-Fried was convicted last November after a month-long trial on seven different charges, including fraud against FTX customers and Alameda Research investors. His companies filed for bankruptcy the year prior.
Earlier this month, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in federal prison for his role in the collapse of the exchange, along with 3 years of supervised release and $11 billion in forfeiture.
New York District Court Judge Lewis Kaplan said Bankman-Fried was not remorseful for his crimes, and called his altruistic persona an “act.” Kaplan said that the sentence – which was much lower than the 40-50 year sentence requested by federal prosecutors but higher than the 6.5 year sentence Bankman-Fried’s legal team suggested – was necessary in order to ensure Bankman-Fried was unable to commit similar crimes in the future.
Though Kaplan ordered Bankman-Fried be remanded to a low or medium-security prison near his parents in Northern California, citing his autism as a risk factor for him in a maximum security facility, Bankman-Fried has surprisingly asked to be kept in the notorious Manhattan Detention Center during his appeal process.
Bankman-Fried’s former colleagues and co-conspirators – several of whom turned over evidence on him and testified at his trial – have yet to be sentenced for their roles in the fraud.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas in November 2022, shortly after FTX and Alameda – alongside affiliates worldwide – filed for bankruptcy, following the publication of a CoinDesk article revealing oddities in its balance sheet.
Federal prosecutors said he deliberately stole customer and investor funds, and lied about what the funds would go toward, during his trial last October.
UPDATE (April 11, 2024, 16:36 UTC): Adds additional detail.
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Nikhilesh De
Nikhilesh De is CoinDesk's managing editor for global policy and regulation, covering regulators, lawmakers and institutions. When he's not reporting on digital assets and policy, he can be found admiring Amtrak or building LEGO trains. He owns < $50 in BTC and < $20 in ETH. He was named the Association of Cryptocurrency Journalists and Researchers' Journalist of the Year in 2020.
Cheyenne Ligon
On the news team at CoinDesk, Cheyenne focuses on crypto regulation and crime. Cheyenne is originally from Houston, Texas. She studied political science at Tulane University in Louisiana. In December 2021, she graduated from CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism, where she focused on business and economics reporting. She has no significant crypto holdings.
