US appellate court mandate affirms Sam Bankman-Fried conviction

The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit issued a formal mandate upholding the conviction and sentence of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried, reducing the number of potential opportunities for being released from prison early.

On Tuesday, the Second Circuit filed a mandate following its June 12 ruling affirming a lower court decision convicting the former CEO on seven felony counts and sentencing him to 25 years in federal prison. Three circuit judges disputed Bankman-Fried’s claims in appeals that FTX had “sufficient liquidity to ensure that investors were made whole and would not experience any losses” and also upheld a New York court’s $11 billion forfeiture order as part of the criminal case.

“As the district court recognized, any contention that Bankman-Fried lacked an intent to defraud because he intended to eventually repay his customers was legally misleading and prejudicial because the wire fraud statute encompasses temporary misappropriation of money or property,” said Circuit Judge Barrington D. Parker in the court opinion. “As the district court made clear, FTX customers were defrauded as soon as Bankman-Fried transferred their money to Alameda regardless of how strongly he believed he might later return the money.”

With the appellate mandate now official, Bankman-Fried has few legal routes to seek a potential early release from prison, including through a pardon from US President Donald Trump or an appeal to the Supreme Court. Trump said in January that he had no plans to issue a pardon, and last month the US Senate unanimously adopted a resolution opposing clemency for the FTX CEO.