FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years behind bars for conducting mass fraud on the cryptocurrency exchange’s customers, has appealed his conviction.
Lawyers at Shapiro Arato Bach filed the appeal before the US District Court in New York on Thursday, though it did not state on what grounds the conviction will be contested.
Bankman-Fried, once a shining light in the murky world of cryptocurrency, laundered billions of dollars of customer funds as head of FTX via sister company Alameda Research.
FTX’s collapse in late 2022 sent shockwaves through the entire cryptocurrency sector, contributing to the two-trillion-dollar market rout on bitcoin and altcoin prices.
Bankman-Fried has repeatedly apologised for his failures as boss of FTX, though maintains his innocence of fraud and money laundering.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who handed down the 25-year sentence in March, said Bankman-Fried had shown no real remorse.
Bankman-Fried’s lawyers were hoping to get a six-year sentence, while the prosecution wanted him behind bars for half a century.