Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of defunct crypto exchange FTX, has filed an appeal to his 25-year prison sentence.
Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), the founder of defunct Bahamian-headquartered cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has filed an appeal to his 25-year prison sentence. He has taken this recourse in an attempt to reverse the fraud conviction levied against him, citing that he was “presumed guilty.” It is not yet clear what the turn out of this appeal would be.
Judge Kaplan Dragged in SBF’s Sentence Appeal
Following the implosion of the crypto derivatives exchange, it looks like everyone has been out to get Sam Bankman-Fried.
Notably, this is what his legal team will have the court believe as he appeals his 25-year prison sentence, according to a Bloomberg report. By this statement, they may be referring to some of the witnesses against Bankman-Fried, including Caroline Ellison.
According to the report, SBF, as he is commonly known, claims that he was presumed guilty when FTX collapsed back in 2022. His lawyers even said his conviction was delivered in a rush that was fuelled by certain entities, including the press, prosecutors, and the new FTX team.
US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the case, was not left out of the accusation.
Judge Kaplan is being accused of pressuring the jurors and repeatedly putting “a thumb on the scale to help the government and thwart the defense.”
Consequently, they are asking for a new trial with a different judge. An earlier filing with the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York noted that “Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent.” Instead, “he was presumed guilty — before he was even charged.”
SBF Did Not Intend to Defraud Customers, Lawyers Argue
For context, the 33-year-old Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven criminal counts, which included fraud and conspiracy at FTX.
A jury in Manhattan gave this verdict in 2023 while the broader cryptocurrency industry watched with keen interest. Apparently, SBF transferred FTX customers’ deposits into Alameda Research, the exchange’s sister trading firm.
The funds were used for speculative investments, political donations, and the acquisition of expensive real estate. Now, his lawyers are saying that SBF’s intention was not to defraud customers. Furthermore, they have mentioned that he planned to repay them in full.
The legal team of the former FTX CEO is claiming that he was going to tell the jury that the exchange had enough assets to cover the claims, but he was blocked by Judge Kaplan.
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