Sam Bankman-Fried, the former head of FTX, just hit a big legal roadblock. A federal appeals court decided to uphold his fraud conviction, keeping his 25-year prison sentence for his part in the collapse of the cryptocurrency exchange.
A three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in Manhattan brushed aside claims from Bankman-Fried's lawyers that his 2023 trial was unfair and that customers might have eventually been repaid thanks to the long-term value of FTX-related investments. The court found no reason to reverse the verdict, which came from one of the most closely followed financial fraud trials in recent years.
Judge Barrington Parker stated that the evidence against Bankman-Fried was overwhelmingly strong. A jury in New York found him guilty on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy linked to FTX's dramatic downfall once recognized as one of the largest cryptocurrency trading platforms in the world. Prosecutors labeled the wrongdoing as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history.
This ruling comes right after news surfaced that Bankman-Fried had asked Donald Trump for a presidential pardon. Even though he's been publicly supportive of Trump lately, the chances of him receiving clemency seem slim, as Trump has hinted, he doesn't plan on granting such pardons.
With this decision, Bankman-Fried's options for legal recourse are becoming even more limited while he serves his sentence.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.