A unanimous three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence on June 12, 2026, closing one of the last viable routes for him to escape the judgment entered after his 2023 trial in the Southern District of New York [1][2]. The panel simultaneously upheld an $11 billion forfeiture order, the largest such order arising from the FTX collapse [1][3].
Bankman-Fried argued on appeal that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan improperly excluded evidence and failed to afford him a presumption of innocence at sentencing [1][2]. The panel, composed of Circuit Judges Barrington D. Parker, Eunice Lee, and Maria Araújo Kahn, rejected both contentions [1]. In affirming the conviction, the court characterized the government's trial evidence as, in its own words, "conservatively stated, robust," a formulation that forecloses any claim that the evidentiary record was thin or legally insufficient [1][3]. The panel's ruling addressed both the wire fraud and securities fraud counts that prosecutors from the DOJ's SDNY office pursued against Bankman-Fried in connection with his operation of FTX and its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research [2][3].
The conviction itself stems from one of the largest financial fraud prosecutions in American history. Bankman-Fried was found guilty in October 2023 of misappropriating billions of dollars in customer funds held on FTX, directing those funds to Alameda Research, and concealing the transfers from investors and the public [2][3]. Judge Kaplan imposed the 25-year sentence in March 2024. The Second Circuit's affirmance places the full weight of that judgment on a reinforced appellate foundation.
Bankman-Fried retains two remaining procedural options: a petition for rehearing before the full Second Circuit sitting en banc, or a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court [1][2]. Both paths carry long odds. En banc review is granted sparingly, typically reserved for circuit splits or questions of exceptional constitutional significance. The Supreme Court accepts fewer than 2% of the petitions it receives. Absent relief from one of those bodies, Bankman-Fried will serve his sentence, and FTX creditors and victims will look to the forfeiture proceeds and the ongoing bankruptcy estate for recovery [2][3].