Bankman-Fried Appeals to the U.S. Supreme Court: Argues Customers Were Reimbursed

Sam Bankman-Fried has appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his fraud conviction and the $11 billion forfeiture order.

Sam Bankman-Fried, co-founder and former executive of FTX, is seeking the reversal of his 25-year prison sentence as well as the $11 billion forfeiture order. The petition also includes a request for a retrial.

Bankman-Fried was convicted on seven counts related to the misappropriation of FTX customer assets and the defrauding of investors and creditors. The defense team contends that the trial court prevented them from presenting evidence showing that FTX and Alameda Research possessed sufficient assets to cover customer losses.

Defense Argues Evidence of Reimbursement Was Blocked

The petition claims that although FTX and Alameda experienced a temporary liquidity crunch, they had sufficient total assets. According to the defense, customers were later reimbursed with interest. Therefore, lawyers argue that evidence regarding whether customers actually suffered financial losses should have been considered at trial.

The petition also asserts that the $11 billion forfeiture order violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits excessive fines.

The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York upheld Bankman-Fried’s conviction in June. In its decision, the court relied on the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Kousisis v. United States. That ruling established that whether victims suffered a net economic loss might not be the sole determining factor for establishing guilt in certain fraud cases.

Bankman-Fried’s petition asks whether courts can prevent the defense from presenting evidence that customers were repaid while the prosecution argues that victims suffered massive losses. According to CNN, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide within this year whether to hear the case.