Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals 25-Year Sentence, Claims He Was Presumed Guilty
2025-11-05 01:15
Sam Bankman-Fried , the convicted co-founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, has filed an appeal challenging his 25-year prison sentence. His legal team argues he was “presumed guilty” from the outset and denied a fair trial due to judicial bias and public prejudice. According to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys submitted a filing to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit in New York, alleging their client’s conviction stemmed from a “rush to judgment” by prosecutors, the media, and U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. “Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent. He was presumed guilty—before he was even charged, ” the defense stated. The filing accuses Judge Kaplan of displaying bias during proceedings, claiming he “ repeatedly ridiculed ” the defense team and showed disbelief in Bankman-Fried’s testimony before the jury. Sam Bankman-Fried Conviction and Appeal Strategy Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on seven counts of fraud...
