Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried is appealing his 25-year prison sentence following a five-week trial late last year.
According to the New York Times, Bankman-Fried resume A November 2023 court ruling found the FTX founder guilty of defrauding investors of more than $8 billion.
His new attorney, Alexandra A.E. Shapiro, has alleged that Judge Kaplan, the presiding judge, presumed Bankman-Fried guilty from the start. The 102-page lawsuit asks for a new trial, alleging that Judge Kaplan obstructed Bankman-Fried’s defense and limited the evidence.
Bankman-Fried, a cryptocurrency magnate and billionaire, has been serving a 25-year sentence in a federal prison facility since last year.
Since his trial in Manhattan, the former FTX CEO has maintained a facade of innocence, insisting that he never intended to siphon off billions of dollars in customer funds or hide the company’s financial health from investors and regulators.
Other FTX executives who signed plea deals, such as former Alameda CEO Carolyn Ellison and Ryan Salami, also face prison time. Ellison’s lawyers have been pushing for parole as Salami battles Justice Department prosecutors over a campaign finance investigation into his partner.
Nearly two years after the collapse of FTX, related lawsuits are moving forward on multiple fronts. The collapsed exchange, its sister company Alameda, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission reached a $12.7 billion settlement agreement that was approved by the court last month.
The SEC also indicated that it may challenge FTX’s plans to repay creditors using stablecoins in its bankruptcy proceedings.