Sam Bankman-Fried has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn his fraud conviction, seek a new trial and cancel an $11 billion forfeiture order, escalating his challenge to the criminal case that followed the collapse of FTX.
The former FTX chief executive was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 after a federal jury found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy offenses tied to the misuse of customer funds. His latest petition argues that errors involving the admission of evidence deprived him of a fair trial.
Bankman-Fried’s filing also centers on a disputed question from his earlier appeals: whether he should have been permitted to introduce evidence that investments made with customer funds later became profitable. His legal team has argued that later returns could have affected how jurors assessed the scale of customer losses and his intent.
The government’s case, accepted by the jury, focused on the movement and use of FTX customer assets through Alameda Research, the affiliated trading firm controlled by Bankman-Fried. Prosecutors said those funds were used to cover Alameda’s obligations, fund investments, make political donations and support other spending.
A Supreme Court appeal faces a steep procedural hurdle. The court accepts only a small share of petitions each year, generally choosing cases that present major legal questions or conflicts between lower courts. Bankman-Fried’s petition asks the justices to revisit both the conduct of his trial and the financial penalty attached to the conviction.
Forfeiture challenge targets $11 billion order
The appeal also challenges the $11 billion asset-forfeiture order under the Eighth Amendment, which bars excessive fines. Asset forfeiture can require a convicted defendant to surrender property connected to criminal conduct or proceeds derived from it.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers contend that the amount is constitutionally disproportionate. The forfeiture figure reflects the financial scope alleged in the FTX case, though the eventual recovery available to customers depends on bankruptcy distributions, asset sales and the value of the remaining estate.
The constitutional argument could draw attention beyond the FTX case because large forfeiture orders have become a recurring feature of major financial-crime prosecutions. Yet it would not automatically reopen the factual findings made by the jury. For the Supreme Court to intervene, Bankman-Fried would need to persuade the justices that his case raises a legal issue requiring their review rather than a dispute limited to his own trial record.
The bankruptcy process has complicated public discussion of losses because the value of digital assets changed substantially after FTX failed in November 2022. Customers’ claims were generally measured under the bankruptcy framework using asset values from the time of the collapse, while several cryptocurrencies later appreciated. That distinction has fueled debate over whether later recoveries should bear on the criminal case, even as prosecutors maintained that the offense was complete when customer funds were misappropriated.
Crypto market weakness accompanied selective speculation
The legal development arrived during a softer 24-hour period for major cryptocurrencies. The supplied market data showed Bitcoin down 1.73%, Ethereum lower by 0.52% and Solana falling 2.03%. XRP declined 3.23%, Dogecoin lost 2.85%, BNB dropped 1.14%, and Uniswap’s UNI fell 2.14%.
TRON’s TRX was the only token in the listed group of 10 highest-volume assets to post a gain, rising 0.38%. Zcash’s ZEC recorded the sharpest decline in that group, falling 12.07%.
The broader picture was less uniform among smaller assets. Raydium’s RAY rose 27.48%, while NES gained 17.03% and Ether.fi’s ETHFI added 11.26%, according to the same data set. EIGEN, APT and several smaller tokens also registered gains exceeding 5%.
That split between declining large-cap assets and sharp advances in selected smaller tokens can signal a fragmented trading environment rather than a market-wide directional move. Large assets often absorb macroeconomic and derivatives-driven selling first, while thinner markets can continue to produce abrupt gains from concentrated activity. Such moves can reverse quickly where liquidity is limited.
Regulation and infrastructure continue to advance
Separate developments showed legal and market infrastructure continuing to evolve despite short-term price volatility. Reporter Eleanor Terrett said an updated text of the Clarity Act had been published ahead of a Senate vote, with Republican revisions addressing provisions related to decentralized finance and credit unions.
The legislation remains politically sensitive, particularly around questions involving potential conflicts of interest and ethics rules connected to President Donald Trump. A published legislative text does not ensure passage, but revisions to DeFi provisions would be closely watched by protocols whose operations may fall between traditional financial regulation and software-based services.
In Singapore, Gemini received a Major Payment Institution license from the Monetary Authority of Singapore, allowing the company to offer digital payment token services and cross-border transfers. The company has operated in Singapore since 2020. The license places Gemini within one of Asia’s more structured regulatory regimes for digital-asset payment businesses.
Meanwhile, Blockstream’s Liquid Network entered a controlled recovery phase after an incident, restoring block production while keeping transactions paused. Blockstream said Functionary and bridge-node updates had been deployed and block-signing was operating as expected, but peg operations remained suspended while restoration of BTC/LBTC reserves continued.
The pause means users could not yet move funds through the network’s Bitcoin peg, including authorized peg-outs. Liquid’s recovery illustrates the operational trade-off in federated systems: halting transfers can contain risk during an incident, but it also leaves users temporarily unable to access a key function of the network.
For deeper context on evolving U.S. crypto rules shaping cases like Bankman-Fried’s, explore our guide on crypto regulation in the US.
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