Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals 25-Year Sentence, Claims ‘Presumed Guilt’ as FTX Drops Global Repayment Proposal

Defense Alleges Judicial Bias While FTX Estate Withdraws Controversial $800M Exclusion Plan Covering 49 Countries

TL;DR

• Sam Bankman-Fried filed an appeal arguing his trial was biased and that he was “presumed guilty” before it began.
• Defense claims Judge Kaplan blocked evidence showing FTX could repay customers and ridiculed the defense throughout proceedings.
• FTX Recovery Trust withdrew its proposal to exclude roughly $800 million in creditor claims from 49 countries after international backlash.

Sam Bankman-Fried’s legal team has filed an appeal challenging his 25-year prison sentence, arguing that the former FTX CEO was never given a fair trial. The filing, submitted to the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan on November 4, asserts that Bankman-Fried was “presumed guilty before he was even charged.” Defense lawyers claim the trial judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, unfairly restricted evidence and consistently portrayed the defendant in a prejudicial light, effectively undermining the presumption of innocence.

The appeal highlights several alleged missteps during the 2023 trial, where prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of misappropriating around $10 billion in customer funds through FTX and its sister hedge fund Alameda Research. His defense maintains that the exchange was solvent and capable of repaying users, yet jurors never heard that evidence. Attorneys argue that Judge Kaplan excluded crucial financial data and internal communications proving that FTX’s balance sheet could cover customer liabilities, which they say would have directly countered the prosecution’s narrative.

One line from the appeal encapsulates the defense’s tone: “Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent. He was presumed guilty — before he was even charged.” The filing further alleges that the judge “constantly ridiculed” the defense and “placed a thumb on the scale,” shaping the jury’s perception before deliberations. Bankman-Fried, who testified in his own defense — a rare move in high-stakes white-collar cases — did not attend the appellate hearing in person. His parents, Stanford law professors Joe Bankman and Barbara Fried, were seen in the courtroom as the proceedings began.

While the criminal case moves into its appellate phase, a parallel controversy is unfolding in the FTX bankruptcy proceedings. The FTX Recovery Trust, managing the collapsed exchange’s remaining assets, has withdrawn a contentious repayment proposal that aimed to exclude roughly $800 million in creditor claims from 49 countries, including China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The proposal, dubbed the “Restricted Jurisdiction Procedure,” was designed to limit or defer claims from nations with unclear or restrictive crypto laws. Following intense backlash from international creditors, the trust abandoned the plan “without prejudice,” meaning it could revisit the issue later.

More than 300 Chinese creditors reportedly objected to the measure, warning it would disproportionately block access to recovery for users in China, which accounted for an estimated 82 percent of the affected claims. The decision to withdraw the proposal on November 3, 2025, underscores the growing global pressure on the estate to ensure equitable treatment of all claimants. FTX’s bankruptcy team continues to oversee an estate estimated at roughly $16 billion, aiming to resolve outstanding obligations more than three years after the exchange’s 2022 collapse.

The two developments—Bankman-Fried’s appeal and the FTX estate’s reversal—reveal the ongoing fractures in the aftermath of one of the largest corporate failures in crypto history. On one hand, the convicted founder seeks to rewrite the narrative of his guilt; on the other, the bankruptcy administrators are struggling to manage an unprecedented global restitution effort. Both threads highlight the enduring complexity of FTX’s collapse, where questions of fairness—legal and financial alike—remain far from settled.

This article has been refined and enhanced by ChatGPT.