Jury convicts Sam Bankman-Fried Billions of dollars stolen from customers Only “half the picture” of his FTX cryptocurrency exchange was seen as the judge did not allow crucial evidence, his lawyer argued in his appeal On Friday.
In a 102-page brief filed with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers wrote that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan erred by barring the 32-year-old former billionaire from presenting evidence he believed FTX had sufficient funds to cover customer withdrawals.
“The government thus presented a false narrative that FTX’s customers, lenders, and investors had lost their money forever,” lawyer Alexandra Shapiro wrote in a petition urging the appeals court to overturn Bankman-Fried’s conviction. sentenced to 25 years in prison“The jury was only allowed to see half the picture.”
A representative for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan, which brought the charges, declined to comment.
Criminal defendants have a tough time getting their convictions overturned, because they must prove that trial judges made errors that were so significant they affected their decision.
FTX declared bankruptcy in November 2022 after customers withdrew money in droves, leading to a rapid decline in the reputation of Bankman-Fried, who had earned a reputation as an honest broker in the tough cryptocurrency industry and rose to prominence through lavish philanthropic and political donations.
FTX has stated that customers will receive 100% recovery of their claims against the company, based on the value of their accounts at the time they filed for bankruptcy.
Cryptocurrency prices were lower than they were at the time, leaving some customers feeling cheated.
In criminal charges filed in December 2022, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of stealing $8 billion in client funds to cover losses at his crypto-focused hedge fund, Alameda Research.
At his trial in late 2023, Bankman-Fried admitted to making mistakes in running FTX but testified that he never stole funds.
He placed most of the blame on other FTX executives.
The jury did not accept his explanation and convicted him of two counts of fraud and five counts of conspiracy. Sentencing Bankman-Fried in March, Kaplan said Bankman-Fried knew his actions were wrong but he “made a very wrong bet about the likelihood of getting caught.”
Bankman-Fried is currently being held Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn,
