FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Seeks Supreme Court Intervention

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of now-defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX, has petitioned the US Supreme Court to reverse his conviction and overturn an $11 billion forfeiture judgment. He is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for seven criminal charges including wire fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering.

The trial judge prevented Bankman-Fried's defense from demonstrating that FTX had sufficient resources to reimburse customer deposits, according to his attorneys. They argue that this was a critical procedural mistake that unfairly disadvantaged the defendant.

Bankman-Fried's team also contests the constitutionality of the $11 billion asset forfeiture order under the 8th Amendment's excessive fines clause. They claim that seizing such a large amount constitutes an unconstitutional punishment.

This appeal builds on a landmark 2025 Supreme Court decision, Kousisis v. United States, which established that federal wire fraud statutes do not require proof of actual economic injury to victims for conviction.