The legal drama of imprisoned Sam Bankman-Fried is waiting on its last act
Sam Bankman-Fried's legal team is petitioning the Supreme Court to review his fraud conviction and the associated $11 billion forfeiture order. The appeal challenges the lower court's handling of evidence regarding customer repayments and the constitutionality of the fine.
Why it matters
This case represents the final legal hurdle for the former FTX CEO and could set precedents regarding the treatment of crypto assets and excessive fines in federal law.
It wasn't OK for the court to look at evidence that FTX customers had lost money when Bankman-Fried moved their funds to his investment firm, Alameda Research. And it's not fair that his court-ordered forfeiture order of $11 billion puts him eternally in a financial hole.
The former industry leader who served as a kind of high-profile crypto champion before his 2022 fall has so far failed to get courts to toss out his conviction, which has led his attorneys to the final destination: the highest court in the land. If Bankman-Fried doesn't manage to get its attention or is actively rejected there, that's potentially the last that'll be heard on the matter as the former whiz kid serves what remains in his 25-year fraud sentence .
Bankman-Fried's lawyers are formally asking the Supreme Court to review the decision in the lower federal court. (Most such requests aren't taken up.)
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