FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) has lost his bid to overturn his crypto fraud conviction, with an appeals court rejecting his argument. This comes amid the crypto founder’s application for a presidential pardon from President Donald Trump.
Sam Bankman-Fried Loses Appeal Of Crypto Fraud Conviction
According to a Reuters report, a three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals rejected the FTX founder’s argument to overturn his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence for his role in the collapse of the defunct crypto exchange. “The government’s evidence against him was, conservatively stated, robust,” the judges wrote in a 42-page opinion.
Sam Bankman-Fried and the defense team had argued that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, had prevented the FTX founder from introducing evidence to support his claim that the exchange had sufficient funds to cover customer withdrawals. SBF has continued to claim that his exchange was never insolvent, despite evidence of a financial hole in the company’s accounts.
This ruling comes just months after the FTX founder withdrew his motion for a retrial, having first filed the motion for a retrial in February. He claimed he withdrew the motion because he believed he was unlikely to receive a fair hearing.
However, he left open the possibility of refiling the motion after the decision in his appeals case. As such, he could refile this motion or appeal to the full appeals court or the U.S. Supreme Court.
Traders Bet Against A Trump Pardon
Amid the appeals court decision, crypto traders are betting that U.S. President Donald Trump will not grant a pardon to Sam Bankman-Fried. As CoinGape reported, SBF has officially filed for a presidential pardon, although the White House has made it clear that President Trump has no intention of pardoning the crypto founder.
Polymarket data shows only a 3% chance that President Trump will pardon SBF by July 31. Furthermore, there is only a 5% chance he will be released from custody this year, with his prison sentence running until 2044.
A potential pardon for Sam Bankman-Fried will not be the first that President Trump has granted to a crypto founder. The president has notably pardoned BitMEX co-founder Arthur Hayes and Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao.