NEW YORK, June 11 — A three-judge panel in a Manhattan federal appeals court upheld Sam Bankman-Fried’s conviction and sentence, saying in a 42-page ruling that Bankman-Fried was the “main driver of one of the largest frauds on record.” The ruling comes as Bankman-Fried applied for a pardon from President Donald Trump earlier this week, with online records of the Justice Department’s Office of the Pardon Attorney showing that Bankman-Fried’s request for a “pardon after completion of sentence” is “pending.” In an interview with Fox Business from his prison cell earlier this week, Bankman-Fried said he “absolutely” wants a pardon, though he acknowledged it is “ultimately up to the president, not up to me.” Bankman-Fried founded FTX in 2019 and became one of the richest people in the burgeoning cryptocurrency industry.
At the height of his wealth, Bankman-Fried secured a Super Bowl ad for FTX that starred comedian Larry David, acquired the rights to rename the home of the Miami Heat to FTX Arena, and became a major political donor to Democratic candidates and causes, contributing the second-most of any individual to former President Joe Biden’s 2020 bid. He was once described by Forbes as the “multi-billionaire poster boy of crypto,” but his fortunes changed dramatically in November 2022, when the company collapsed.
The collapse of FTX led to a fraud conviction and sentence for Bankman-Fried, which has now been upheld by the appeals court.
President Trump has pardoned multiple white-collar criminals in his second term, including online black market Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, but he said in January he has no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried. The decision on Bankman-Fried’s pardon request is still pending. As the situation develops, it will be worth watching how President Trump responds to Bankman-Fried’s pardon request, and what implications this may have for the cryptocurrency industry as a whole.
With the appeals court ruling upholding Bankman-Fried’s conviction and sentence, the focus will now shift to the pardon request and the potential consequences of a pardon or denial.
