FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Loses Fraud Appeal, Conviction Upheld

FTX, once one of the world's three largest cryptocurrency exchanges, collapsed into bankruptcy in November 2022, leaving customers with losses of more than $8 billion. Founder Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced by a U.S. court in March 2024 to 25 years in prison for multiple counts of financial fraud. One of the largest financial fraud cases in U.S. history, it has become a major turning point for global digital-asset regulation and investor protection.

The U.S. Senate unanimously adopted Resolution 772, or S.Res.772, on July 15, 2026, strongly opposing any presidential pardon or sentence commutation for Bankman-Fried. The resolution's passage without objection reflects the seriousness with which lawmakers from both parties view the case. He is currently not due for release before 2044, and former President Donald Trump has publicly said he has no intention of granting clemency.

Cryptocurrency exchange FTX collapsed in November 2022, and founder Sam Bankman-Fried, known as SBF, was accused of misappropriating about $8 billion in customer funds. A federal jury in New York convicted him in November 2023, and a court sentenced him to 25 years in prison on March 28, 2024. The prosecution became a landmark case in the U.S. crackdown on major financial fraud.

Republican Senator Cynthia Lummis and Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren are preparing a nonbinding joint resolution calling on the president not to pardon Bankman-Fried or commute his sentence. They warned that granting executive clemency to the former FTX chief, who misappropriated billions of dollars in customer assets, would undermine judicial accountability and the deterrence of financial crime.

FTX, once one of the world’s leading cryptocurrency exchanges, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection alongside Alameda Research on November 11, 2022. Prosecutors found that SBF had misappropriated billions of dollars in customer funds. A New York federal court sentenced him to 25 years in prison and ordered the forfeiture of more than $11 billion on March 28, 2024, leaving a central question: whether the ability to repay customers eventually means no fraud occurred at the time.

In a February 20, 2026, post on X outlining “10 major misconceptions,” SBF said FTX had faced only a liquidity crisis and that customers could recover 119% to 143% of their claims. In a June interview, he put recoveries at about 170% and said he hoped to receive a presidential pardon. The FTX Recovery Trust distributed $2.2 billion on March 31, but claims were converted into cash at depressed November 11, 2022, valuations and did not reflect Bitcoin’s subsequent gains. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit nevertheless upheld his conviction on June 12.

Crypto exchange FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022. Prosecutors accused founder and former chief executive Sam Bankman-Fried, or SBF, of misappropriating about $8 billion in customer funds to finance trading and investments by Alameda Research. A New York jury convicted him in November 2023 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts, and the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York sentenced him to 25 years in prison on March 28, 2024.

SBF moved for a new trial on February 5, 2026, under Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, arguing that a new witness could support his claim that FTX was solvent at the time. Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the U.S. government on February 25 to respond by March 11. SBF sought to withdraw the motion and replace the judge on April 22, but Kaplan denied it on April 28, finding that the evidence was not newly discovered and that the claims contradicted the case record.