FTX’s Sam Bankman-Fried appeals 25-year prison sentence

FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried during his sentencing proceedings [File]
| Photo Credit: JANE ROSENBERG

The convicted ex-CEO of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, appealed his prison term around two weeks after he was sentenced to 25 years for fraud and multiple related charges.

Bankman-Fried’s legal team decided to appeal back on March 28 as he was sentenced, even though he had received a much shorter jail term than the maximum time limit of 110 years for his crimes.

The former billionaire’s legal team will likely try to argue in the Manhattan-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan made mistakes that resulted in Bankman-Fried being treated wrongly, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The FTX crypto exchange crashed in November 2022 after investors tried to pull billions of dollars of funds and revealed a liquidity shortage. It was later established that Bankman-Fried had been misusing their funds to support a sister trading firm called Alameda Research.

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During the trial, Bankman-Fried’s erratic behaviour had frustrated even the judge as the former FTX chief seemed unable or unwilling to give straightforward answers to direct questions about his business operations.

As former colleagues testified against him, Bankman-Fried’s legal team spoke about his autism, social awkwardness, love for math, and genuine intentions as a businessman.

Customers lost $8 billion as a result of his actions, and Judge Kaplan cast serious doubt on Bankman-Fried’s claims that investors could be paid back.