He asked Trump for a pardon this week.
Yesterday a federal court gave him a very different answer.
Sam Bankman-Fried is not going home. And the most important crypto fraud case in history just reached its final chapter.
✦ On June 12, 2026 — yesterday — a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit unanimously rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's appeal of his 2023 fraud conviction — upholding his 25-year prison sentence in a ruling that took the court less than a single day to deliver after months of deliberation
✦ The court's language was unambiguous — writing that the government's evidence against Bankman-Fried "was, conservatively stated, robust." All three judges agreed. Not one dissent. The ruling was unanimous across every count
✦ SBF's legal team had argued that trial judge Lewis Kaplan wrongly blocked evidence showing FTX was solvent but illiquid — and that he had been prevented from arguing customers would eventually have been made whole. The appeals court rejected both arguments, ruling that "FTX customers were defrauded the moment Bankman-Fried transferred their money to Alameda — regardless of how strongly he believed he might later return it"
✦ At the same time his appeal was being rejected, SBF's pardon petition to President Trump — filed earlier in June — remains listed as "pending" at the Department of Justice. Trump has publicly stated twice in 2026 that he has no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried, citing the $11 billion scale of the fraud
✦ The ruling establishes a landmark legal precedent for all future crypto fraud cases — prosecutors in every future case involving digital asset mismanagement will now cite Bankman-Fried's conviction as the benchmark for what accountability looks like
✦ FTX was once valued at $32 billion. Its collapse in November 2022 wiped out billions in customer funds across 134 countries. With the appeals path now fully exhausted, the $11 billion forfeiture order stands as one of the largest financial fraud clawbacks in US history
He built a $32 billion empire. He lost it all in 72 hours.
He was convicted on 7 counts. He asked for a pardon. He lost his appeal — unanimously.
25 years in federal prison. No more legal options. The FTX chapter is officially closed.
Do you think 25 years is a fair sentence for stealing $11 billion from ordinary crypto users — or should the punishment have been different?
