FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his seven-count fraud conviction and $11 billion forfeiture, arguing the trial court prejudiced his defense by blocking evidence that FTX held sufficient assets to repay customers. The petition follows a June 2026 Second Circuit rejection based on wire fraud precedents. Concurrently, Bankman-Fried is pursuing a presidential pardon, which faces steep political hurdles including a unanimous Senate resolution opposing clemency.
Supreme Court petition filing
- ▪The Supreme Court petition filed by Sam Bankman-Fried on September 10, 2026, was reportedly submitted by Stanford law professor Jeffrey Fisher
- ▪Sam Bankman-Fried filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the U.S. Supreme Court on September 10, 2026, seeking to overturn his seven-count fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence
- ▪The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to decide later in 2026 whether it will grant review and hear Sam Bankman-Fried's case, which historically occurs for only about 1% of petitions
Customer loss evidence dispute
- ▪Sam Bankman-Fried's petition argues the trial court erred by letting prosecutors suggest customers suffered large losses while blocking the defense from showing FTX and Alameda Research held sufficient assets to repay them
- ▪FTX customer repayments are proceeding separately through bankruptcy court, where claims are valued at November 2022 prices when Bitcoin traded around $16,000, resulting in many customer classes being repaid with interest
- ▪The Justice Department maintained at sentencing that Sam Bankman-Fried led a scheme to defraud FTX customers by misappropriating billions of dollars, regardless of whether those funds were eventually returned
Second Circuit Kousisis precedent
- ▪A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal on June 12, 2026, upholding Judge Lewis Kaplan's decision to exclude evidence of potential customer repayment
- ▪The Second Circuit Court of Appeals relied on the Supreme Court's 2025 ruling in Kousisis v. United States, which established that wire fraud does not require intent to cause net economic harm
Presidential pardon application
- ▪Polymarket prediction market traders priced the probability of Sam Bankman-Fried walking free in 2026 at 2% in September 2026, down from 7% when he first filed for clemency
- ▪Sam Bankman-Fried applied to U.S. President Donald Trump for clemency in June 2026, which remains pending with the Office of the Pardon Attorney despite Trump stating in January 2026 he would not consider it
Senate opposition to clemency
- ▪The U.S. Senate voted unanimously in July 2026 to approve a resolution, led by Senators Cynthia Lummis and Ruben Gallego, opposing clemency for Sam Bankman-Fried
- ▪Sam Bankman-Fried was the second-largest donor to Democrats in the 2021-2022 election cycle, contributing nearly $40 million before FTX collapsed in November 2022
Debatable claims
- ▪Sam Bankman-Fried's trial should have permitted evidence of customer repayment
- ▪President Trump should grant clemency to Sam Bankman-Fried
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