SBF Asks Supreme Court to Review FTX Fraud Conviction

Sam Bankman-Fried’s petition asks the US Supreme Court to review his fraud conviction and an $11 billion forfeiture order tied to the collapse of FTX. The Justice Department’s response is due Nov. 16, after which the justices may decide whether to hear the case.

The court initially set an Oct. 15 deadline for the government’s response but granted an extension. The justices could decide whether to accept the case in late 2026 or early 2027. If they grant review, a ruling could come during the current term, which ends in June 2027, or during the following term.

Bankman-Fried filed the petition within 90 days of the Second Circuit’s rejection of his appeal in June 2026. His lawyers ask whether evidence about FTX customers’ eventual recovery of funds should have been admitted at trial. They also argue that the forfeiture order violates the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines.

Jeffrey Fisher, a lawyer at Hecker Fink who represents Bankman-Fried, argued that the government’s legal theory made customers’ eventual losses irrelevant. “Our whole point is the theory the government chose makes it irrelevant whether any customers lost money or, if so, how much,” Fisher said.

Prosecutors argued that customers were defrauded when Bankman-Fried transferred their funds to Alameda Research, regardless of whether he expected to repay them. The Second Circuit agreed, ruling that customers’ eventual recovery did not change the legal basis for the fraud convictions.

The petition cites the Supreme Court’s 2025 ruling in Kousisis v. United States, which addressed fraud claims involving misrepresentations and financial harm. Bankman-Fried’s lawyers also cite a 2007 First Circuit ruling, United States v. Carpenter, involving a defendant who intended to prevent customers from suffering financial losses.

Mark Bini, a former federal and state prosecutor and a partner at Reed Smith, described a new trial based on those arguments as unlikely. He called the forfeiture issue more significant because of the order’s size and described reliance on Carpenter rather than Kousisis as an “uphill battle” for Bankman-Fried.

FTX users began receiving repayments in 2025. The amounts were calculated using cryptocurrency prices from the exchange’s November 2022 collapse, meaning some users may not have received the gains associated with higher token prices before repayment.

The forfeiture order could affect Bankman-Fried after his release from prison. Fisher said Bankman-Fried currently has no money to pay it and could remain responsible for the $11 billion debt for life. He added that the government could claim future earnings under the penalty’s terms.

If the Supreme Court accepts the forfeiture argument but rejects the claim about evidence related to customer repayments, Bini said the likely result could be a reduction in the forfeiture amount rather than a new trial. He described the case as unusual because creditors were being repaid while the government sought a large forfeiture.

Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on seven felony counts related to the misuse of FTX customer funds. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion. FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.

Bankman-Fried is also seeking a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. No decision on the pardon has been announced, and the Supreme Court will separately decide whether to hear his petition.