FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried lost a bid on Friday to overturn his fraud conviction and prison sentence stemming from the collapse of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange.
A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan agreed unanimously that prosecutors' evidence in the case against Bankman-Fried was robust.
"While he was publicly reassuring customers, investors and regulators that FTX customer funds were safe, he was simultaneously using FTX as his own personal piggy bank, spending customer funds on real estate, political contributions, and investments," Circuit Judge Barrington Parker wrote on behalf of the appeals panel.
In seeking an appeal, Bankman-Fried's defense lawyers argued that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, improperly barred him from presenting evidence supporting his belief that FTX had enough funds to cover customer withdrawals.
Before the downfall of FTX in 2022, Bankman-Fried was regarded as one of the most influential leaders in the cryptocurrency sector and had amassed a multibillion-dollar fortune.
In 2023, a Manhattan federal jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven felony charges. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison for defrauding investors of $8 billion in the fallen cryptocurrency exchange.
Bankman-Fried, during his sentencing, apologized to those investors.
"A lot of people feel really let down, and they were very let down, and I am sorry about that," he said. "I am sorry about what happened at every stage."
Kaplan authorized the government to use the funds recovered through the forfeiture process to provide compensation to his victims.
Bankman-Fried admitted to making mistakes running FTX during his trial, but testified that he never stole funds. His lawyers argued that he carefully tracked FTX's finances and that serious errors were made by subordinates acting on their own. But prosecutors had pointed to testimony from Caroline Ellison, a former close associate and girlfriend of Bankman-Fried, to argue that he was responsible for the wrongdoing at FTX and Alameda.
The next move by the defense team may be to ask all the active judges on the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals to hear the case, or ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take it up.
Bankman-Fried has also formally applied for a pardon from President Donald Trump.