Sam Bankman-Fried Loses Appeal of Fraud Conviction and 25-Year Prison Sentence

On June 12, 2026, a Manhattan federal appeals court rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal, upholding his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence. The court dismissed claims of trial unfairness and judicial bias, calling Bankman-Fried the main driver of a massive fraud. Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried's application for a presidential pardon from Donald Trump remains pending, though Trump previously stated he has no intention of granting it.

Appeal rejection upheld

• ▪Sam Bankman-Fried may still attempt to appeal his fraud conviction to the full panel of appeals court judges or to the United States Supreme Court.
• ▪The Manhattan federal appeals court described Sam Bankman-Fried in its 42-page ruling on June 12, 2026, as the "main driver of one of the largest frauds on record."
• ▪A three-judge panel in a Manhattan federal appeals court upheld Sam Bankman-Fried’s fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence on June 12, 2026.

FTX collapse fraud scheme

• ▪Federal prosecutors accused Sam Bankman-Fried of stealing over $8 billion of customer funds from the cryptocurrency exchange FTX to expand his personal power and influence.
• ▪The cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in November 2022 after a CoinDesk report revealed that its closely tied trading firm, Alameda Research, held a significant amount of FTX tokens on its balance sheet.
• ▪Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 after being found guilty on seven criminal counts, including wire fraud, conspiracy, money laundering, and securities fraud.

Trial fairness claims rejected

• ▪The Manhattan federal appeals court rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's claim that his trial was "fundamentally unfair" and that federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan was biased against him.
• ▪The Manhattan federal appeals court stated in its June 12, 2026, ruling that the federal government's evidence against Sam Bankman-Fried was "conservatively stated, robust."
• ▪The Manhattan federal appeals court ruled that federal judge Lewis A. Kaplan acted within his broad discretion when he limited Sam Bankman-Fried's trial testimony to prevent confusing or misleading the jury.

Trump pardon application pending

• ▪President Donald Trump stated in January 2026 that he has no intention of pardoning Sam Bankman-Fried, despite having pardoned other white-collar criminals such as Ross Ulbricht and Changpeng Zhao.
• ▪Sam Bankman-Fried formally applied for a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump in June 2026, which is listed as "pending" in the Justice Department's Office of the Pardon Attorney records.

Bankman-Fried billionaire downfall

• ▪Sam Bankman-Fried's net worth fell to $0 following the collapse of FTX, after previously reaching a peak valuation of as much as $26.5 billion.
• ▪Prior to the collapse of FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried was a major political donor who contributed the second-highest amount of any individual donor to Joe Biden's 2020 presidential campaign.