A Second Circuit panel ruled that Sam Bankman-Fried’s arguments his FTX fraud trial was unfair were not persuasive, upholding Judge Lewis Kaplan’s handling of the case, days after the former FTX CEO formally asked President Trump for a pardon.
Posted June 15, 2026 at 5:48 am EST.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the former FTX CEO, lost his effort to overturn his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges Friday, when a Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that his arguments that his trial was unfair were not persuasive.
The panel worked through Bankman-Fried’s contentions that he was prevented from presenting all of his legal arguments and blocked from arguing that FTX’s investments would eventually perform well. “Bankman-Fried makes these arguments in the face of a trial at which the government’s evidence against him was, conservatively stated, robust,” the ruling said. The judges found that Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, did not err in how he handled objections or rulings on evidence, and agreed with his decisions throughout.
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The court was direct in rejecting his central defense. “Whether the assets purchased by Bankman-Fried appreciated in value is irrelevant as to whether he committed fraud,” the panel wrote, noting that the wire fraud statute covers even temporary misappropriation of customer money. It similarly dismissed the argument that FTX customers should have expected to lose access to funds because some opted into margin trading, writing that no one opted into having their money transferred under false pretenses to Alameda Research.
The outcome matches the reception Bankman-Fried’s team saw last November, when the three-judge panel repeatedly interrupted his attorney Alexandra Shapiro during the hearing. The decision narrows his remaining options.
Earlier this week, Bankman-Fried formally asked President Trump for a pardon, though Trump has previously said he would not pardon him, grouping him with other high-profile figures he declined to consider.
Bankman-Fried is also seeking a new trial in federal court, a separate track from the appeal, and is serving a 25-year sentence after a jury found him guilty on seven counts in November 2023.
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