New York (AFP) – A US appeals court on Friday upheld the conviction of disgraced cryptocurrency tycoon Sam Bankman-Fried as part of a sweeping fraud case. The 34-year-old co-founder of crypto exchange FTX is currently in federal prison serving a 25-year sentence after he was convicted in 2023 of fraud, embezzlement, and criminal conspiracy.
In addition to the prison sentence, Bankman-Fried — known by his initials “SBF” — sought to appeal the $11 billion in asset forfeiture ordered in the case, which the New York Court of Appeals also denied. Bankman-Fried was convicted of moving billions of dollars in customer funds to his personal hedge fund Alameda Research, which he then used to make risky investments.
The crypto billionaire’s quick rise was matched by his fall, with FTX collapsing after a deluge of customer withdrawals. By the time the company declared bankruptcy, about $9 billion was missing from accounts. In his appeal, Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued that even if customer funds were used without consent, the investments made with them would have generated high enough returns to reimburse everyone.
Bankman-Fried also claimed the 2023 trial unfairly restricted his defense team, but the appeal case ultimately fell short. “The government’s evidence against him was, conservatively stated, robust,” the appellate court said in its ruling.
Bankman-Fried has also applied for a pardon from US President Donald Trump, but in a New York Times interview in January, the billionaire Republican said he did not plan to issue one to SBF.
© 2024 AFP
