FTX founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried lost his effort to overturn his conviction on fraud and conspiracy charges tied to the operation and collapse of his former crypto trading empire on Friday.
A Second Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled that the onetime crypto executive’s arguments that his trial was unfair were not persuasive, going through Bankman-Fried’s contention that he was prevented from presenting all of his legal arguments and that he was blocked from arguing that FTX’s investments would do well.
“Bankman-Fried makes these arguments in the face of a trial at which the government’s evidence against him was, conservatively stated, robust,” the ruling stated.
The panel ruled that Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, did not make errors in how he handled objections or in his rulings about specific arguments and portions of evidence that the prosecution and defense wanted to introduce.
While the ruling made note of the “broad discretion” that district courts have in running trials throughout the filing, the panel of judges also stated they agreed with his rulings and explained their view of Judge Kaplan’s actions through the trial, moreover to taking on Bankman-Fried’s actual arguments.
