Sam Bankman-Fried Will Appeal Jail Sentence

Attorneys for Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried have officially initiated an appeal against the conviction and sentence handed down to the ex-FTX CEO.

On April 11, a notice was submitted to the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York by lawyer Alexandra Shapiro, indicating Bankman-Fried's decision to challenge his conviction of seven felony charges determined by a jury, as well as Judge Lewis Kaplan’s decision to sentence him to 25 years in a federal penitentiary.

This move to appeal was anticipated, as SBF's legal team had previously announced their intentions during the sentencing hearing on March 28.

This development follows two weeks after Bankman-Fried's sentencing, during which Judge Kaplan also mandated the surrender of $11 billion.

Furthermore, on April 8, Bankman-Fried’s legal representatives requested that the judge sanction a motion for SBF to stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn during his appeal instead of being transferred to a federal correctional facility in the San Francisco Bay Area.

The legal battle against Bankman-Fried and his colleagues started in November 2022, following the cryptocurrency exchange FTX declaring bankruptcy amid a liquidity crisis.

Bankman-Fried was apprehended in the Bahamas, where FTX's offices were located, then extradited to the U.S., and faced fraud charges.

In November 2023, a jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven felony charges.

The sentencing of Bankman-Fried by Judge Kaplan has drawn mixed reactions from the affected cryptocurrency community.

Some argue that the 25-year prison term does not sufficiently address the financial damage inflicted on countless FTX users, while others believe it serves as a significant deterrent to other industry figures.

The appeal lodged by Bankman-Fried is expected to be reviewed by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, where a group of judges will decide whether to uphold the federal court's verdict or overturn it, potentially paving the way for a new trial.

Shapiro's appeal notice did not specify the reasons for challenging SBF's conviction.

Meanwhile, the sentencing proceedings for Bankman-Fried’s co-defendants from FTX and Alameda Research, including Ryan Salame, Caroline Ellison, Gary Wang, and Nishad Singh, are progressing.

Salame's sentencing, for example, is slated for May 28. These individuals have all entered guilty pleas and agreed to plea deals prior to Bankman-Fried's trial.

Sources:

https://cointelegraph.com/news/sam-bankman-fried-files-appeal

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940/gov.uscourts.nysd.590940.428.0.pdf