Sam Bankman-Fried Asks Supreme Court to Hear His Appeal

On Thursday, Sam Bankman-Fried, the co-founder of FTX, petitioned the US Supreme Court to review his 2023 fraud conviction and the 25-year prison term he received. It is his final remaining legal option.

Jeffrey Fisher, his attorney and a Stanford law professor, verified that the petition had been submitted. The Supreme Court justices can choose to deny the request without ever considering oral arguments.

What SBF is Asking the Justices to Do

The petition is a request for a writ of certiorari, which is a formal request for the court to take up a case, not an actual hearing. Bloomberg first reported the story, although as of this writing the filing had not yet been posted on the court's public docket.

Bankman-Fried was found guilty by a jury in November 2023 for his role in the downfall of FTX and Alameda Research. In March of the following year, Judge Lewis Kaplan handed down a 25-year prison sentence and ordered the forfeiture of $11 billion.

Why the June Ruling Left So Little Room

On June 12, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals dismissed his appeal. Circuit Judge Barrington Parker stated that the trial judge correctly excluded evidence suggesting FTX might have been able to repay customers.

“FTX customers were defrauded as soon as Bankman-Fried transferred their money to Alameda regardless of how strongly he believed he might later return the money,” Aljazeera reported.

BeInCrypto noted the deadline back in August, when the Second Circuit mandate issued, creating a 90-day period for a Supreme Court petition. The filing on Thursday falls within that window.

What It Means for FTX Creditors

This petition has no bearing on the funds. The bankruptcy process operates independently of the criminal proceedings, and FTX creditor repayments are ongoing no matter the Supreme Court's decision.

This distinction is central to his argument. Numerous customer categories have received their full claims based on November 2022 valuations, but the appeals court ruled that subsequent repayment does not negate the initial fraud.

Each term, the Supreme Court receives several thousand petitions and grants a hearing to only a small fraction, in the low single digits. Denials typically appear as a single line on an order list months later, without any explanation.

His separate request for a pardon is also still pending with no progress.

On Polymarket, traders currently estimate a 2% probability that he will be released in 2026, a drop from 7% when he submitted his clemency request in June.