- FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried has filed a notice of appeal of his conviction and the 25-year prison sentence
- The appeal hearing will take place at the 2nd Circuit US Court of Appeals, sitting in Manhattan
Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team has filed a notice of appeal for his conviction on several counts of fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy – and his subsequent jail sentence.
The 32-year-old was sentenced to 25 years in prison on March 28 by Judge Lewis Kaplan in a 3-hour sitting in what would be one of the biggest financial fraud cases in the history of the US.
According to Damian Williams, US Attorney for New York’s Southern District, “Samuel Bankman-Fried orchestrated one of the largest financial frauds in history, stealing over $8 billion of his customers’ money.”
Convicted last November of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy to defraud investors to the tune of over $8 billion, the crypto mogul still maintained his innocence amidst state prosecutors’ gunning for 40 to 50 years in jail and the probation department suggesting over 100 years.
The magnitude of his case met with untold global attention in anticipation of a disciplinary measure that would set the tone for similar offenses within the industry. Although Bankman-Fried’s attorney pleaded for a more lenient sentence of between five and six and half years, 25 years seemed inevitable.
Before pronouncing his sentence, Judge Kaplan cited Bankman-Fried’s seeming lack of remorse, his “evasive, hair-splitting” testimony, and his actions that constituted perjury in a bid to express the intensity of his crime. According to Kaplan, Bankman-Fried had failed to take responsibility for the disaster he created.
“Mr. Bankman-Fried says mistakes were made … but never a word of remorse for the commission of terrible crimes,” Kaplan added
Speaking before the sentencing, Bankman-Fried expressed how sorry he was over his failure to verbally express his remorse for the unfolding hardship he had caused customers and investors.
“Customers have been suffering … I didn’t at all mean to minimize that. I also think that’s something that was missing from what I’ve said over the course of this process, and I’m sorry for that,” said Bankman-Fried.
Bankman-Fried’s attorney Marc Mukasey sought the court’s leniency towards his client, arguing that it was never his intention to harm anyone. Mukasey told the court how his client never makes any decisions “with malice in his heart.”
“He’s an awkward math nerd. He’s into veganism. He has an off-the-chart intellect. He is a beautiful puzzle,” added Mukasey. “He can parse words better than a Talmudic scholar. He was a billionaire unconcerned about material possessions,” added Mukasey.
Judge Kaplan would finally hand Bankman-Fried 25 years in jail and three years of supervised release. Additionally, he was ordered to forfeit $11 billion in assets and given a timeline within which he could appeal his sentence.
Yesterday’s notice of appeal follows Bankman-Fried’s lawyer’s prior statement of his client’s intention to appeal the conviction and sentence. However, the odds of getting a favorable appeal for the conviction on a federal crime like his – that has already been ruled on by a lower court – seem minimal. His legal team would need to find holes in the judge’s conviction that would be convincing enough to the Manhattan Court of Appeals and it might take several years to get to complete the appeal process.