FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried appeals fraud conviction, 25-year prison sentence

A
lawyer
for

FTX
founder

Sam
Bankman-Fried
on
Thursday
filed
a
notice
of

appeal
of
his
federal

fraud
and
conspiracy
conviction
and
his
25-year

prison
sentence.

Bankman-Fried’s
appeal
came
two
weeks
after
he
was
sentenced
in
U.S.
District
Court
in
Manhattan
and
ordered
to
pay
$11
billion
in
forfeiture
for
the
massive
fraud
at
the

cryptocurrency
exchange
FTX
and
a
related
hedge
fund,
Alameda
Research.
Prosecutors
said
it
was
one
of
the
largest
financial
frauds
in
history.

The
appeal,
which
was
expected,
will
be
heard
by
a
three-judge
panel
of
the
2nd
Circuit
U.S.
Court
of
Appeals,
which
sits
in
Manhattan.

Criminal
defendants
face
very
long
odds
of
having
their
convictions
overturned
in
federal
court,
winning
reversals
in
fewer
than
10%
of
appeals.
If
Bankman-Fried
loses
at
the
2nd
Circuit,
he
would
have
to
petition
the
U.S.
Supreme
Court
to
take
his
appeal,
which
is
an
even
longer
shot.

Alexandra
Shapiro,
the
lawyer
who
filed
Bankman-Fried’s
notice
of
appeal,
did
not
immediately
respond
to
a
request
for
comment
Thursday.

Bankman-Fried,
32,
was
convicted
at
trial
in
November
of
seven
fraud
and
conspiracy
counts
related
to
misappropriating
around
$10
billion
in
customer
money.

The
Manhattan
U.S.
Attorney’s
Office
said
Bankman-Fried
oversaw
a
conspiracy
that
looted
customer
funds
to
make
investments
and
fund
political
donations
to
Democrats
and
Republicans.
He
also
used
the
swindled
funds
for
personal
expenses
and
to
repay
loans
taken
out
by
Alameda
Research,
prosecutors
said.

When
he
sentenced
Bankman-Fried,
Judge
Lewis
Kaplan
said, “There
is
a
risk
that
this
man
will
be
in
position
to
do
something
very
bad
in
the
future.”

“And
it’s
not
a
trivial
risk
at
all,”
added
Kaplan,
who
noted
that
he
has
never
heard “a
word
of
remorse
for
the
commission
of
terrible
crimes”
from
Bankman-Fried.

Bankman-Fried,
who
is
the
son
of
Stanford
Law
professors,
has
suggested
that
FTX
lost
billions
of
dollars
in
customer
funds
due
to
a “liquidity
crisis”
or “mismanagement.”

Four
other
top
executives
at
FTX
and
Alameda
previously
pleaded
guilty.

One
of
them,
Ryan
Salame,
is
due
to
be
sentenced
on
May
28
by
Kaplan.

Sentencing
dates
have
yet
to
be
set
for
Caroline
Ellison,
who
was
CEO
of
Alameda;
FTX
technology
chief
Gary
Wang;
and
Nishad
Singh,
who
was
FTX’s
engineering
boss.