The Second Circuit Court of Appeals has upheld Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal convictions and $11 billion forfeiture order in a 42-page opinion handed down on 12 June 2026, affirming the judgment of the Manhattan federal court that Bankman-Fried knowingly committed large-scale fraud on customers, investors and lenders of his cryptocurrency exchange FTX and affiliated hedge fund Alameda Research.
Senior Circuit Judge Barrington D Parker wrote for the three-judge panel, joined by Circuit Judges Eunice Lee and Maria Araújo Kahn. The panel found the evidence presented at trial by the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York was overwhelming — including testimony from three former senior FTX and Alameda executives who pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors:
Alameda co-CEO Caroline Ellison, FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh. The panel rejected Bankman-Fried’s argument that prejudicial rulings by the trial judge had hamstrung his defence and deprived him of the presumption of innocence.
Bankman-Fried had argued on appeal that he was wrongfully prevented from presenting evidence that FTX and Alameda were not completely insolvent because speculative investments provided sufficient liquidity to make investors whole. He cited his $500 million investment in AI developer Anthropic, which reached a value of between $1 billion and $1.4 billion. The Second Circuit rejected this argument as outweighed by the trial evidence of deliberate fraud.
On forfeiture, the panel upheld the $11 billion order despite acknowledging it was a very large amount in a case where many victims may ultimately be made whole. The panel found Congress had legislated a forfeiture framework based on the defendant’s gains rather than moral culpability — and the court was constrained by the statutory scheme Parliament enacted. Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 of all seven criminal counts and sentenced in March 2024 to 25 years in prison. Office of the Pardon Attorney records confirm he filed an application for a pardon after completion of sentence in 2026. He retains the right to petition the US Supreme Court.
The Second Circuit ruling is the definitive appellate statement on the FTX fraud and carries direct implications for financial crime and crypto regulatory practices. The panel’s analysis of the forfeiture framework — confirming that gains-based forfeiture is constitutionally sound even where victims may be compensated — is relevant to every white collar crime practice advising clients on cryptocurrency fraud exposure.
For in-house legal teams at digital asset platforms the case reinforces that public reassurances about customer fund safety while privately misappropriating those funds will be treated as deliberate fraud regardless of ultimate investment performance. Firms including Sullivan & Cromwell which advised FTX’s bankruptcy estate, and Quinn Emanuel, which has acted in related civil proceedings, will be tracking the pardon application through 2026.