Sam Bankman-Fried: How the $32 Billion Crypto King Was Convicted and Sentenced to 25 Years

By Magnatefall Team · Published October 21, 2026 · Last updated October 21, 2026

Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted of fraud because a jury found he took billions of dollars in FTX customer deposits. He spent them on his trading firm, venture bets, real estate and political donations. In March 2024, a federal judge sentenced him to 25 years in prison. His appeal failed in June 2026, and he has now asked the Supreme Court to hear his case.

Two years earlier, FTX was valued at $32 billion and he was the face of crypto. This is how that ended.

▶ Prefer to watch? See the full documentary, how the crypto king ended up with 25 years. Free on YouTube.

Who Is Sam Bankman-Fried?

Sam Bankman-Fried is the founder and former chief executive of the FTX crypto exchange. Known almost everywhere as SBF, he studied physics at MIT and traded at Jane Street. In 2017 he started his own trading firm, Alameda Research. Two years later he launched FTX, a crypto exchange that grew at astonishing speed.

He built a very specific image. Messy hair, shorts, a beanbag in the office, and talk of earning money to give it away. Celebrities endorsed FTX. Its name went on a Miami arena. In January 2022, investors valued the company at $32 billion. At his peak, Forbes put his personal fortune at around $26 billion.

What SBF Did With Customer Money

The core of the case was simple. FTX customers deposited money to trade. They were told it was safe. Prosecutors showed that billions of those dollars went to Alameda. The firm used them to repay loans, place bets and make investments. Some of the money also went to political donations and luxury property in the Bahamas, according to the evidence at trial.

When the FTX collapse hit in November 2022, customers rushed to withdraw and the money wasn’t there. FTX filed for bankruptcy on November 11, and Bankman-Fried resigned the same day.

Inside the SBF Fraud Trial

He was arrested in the Bahamas on December 12, 2022, and extradited to the United States nine days later. His trial began in Manhattan in October 2023.

The most damaging testimony came from people who had been closest to him. Caroline Ellison, who ran Alameda, and FTX co-founders Gary Wang and Nishad Singh had all pleaded guilty. Each told the jury that Bankman-Fried directed or knew about the use of customer funds. He took the stand himself and said he had made mistakes but did not commit fraud. The jury didn’t accept that. On November 2, 2023, after only a few hours of deliberation, it found him guilty on all seven counts.

Why SBF Got 25 Years

On March 28, 2024, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison and ordered him to forfeit about $11 billion. At sentencing, the judge found that customers lost about $8 billion. FTX investors lost about $1.7 billion, and Alameda’s lenders about $1.3 billion. He also said Bankman-Fried had lied on the witness stand.

Defense lawyers argued that customers were likely to be repaid through the bankruptcy and that this should count. The judge rejected that reasoning, comparing it to a thief who takes money to a casino and wins.

The Appeal and the Supreme Court Petition

Bankman-Fried appealed, arguing that the trial was unfair because the judge limited evidence about whether customers would ultimately recover their money. On June 12, 2026, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals upheld his conviction. The three judges also upheld the 25-year sentence and the $11 billion forfeiture order.

On September 10, 2026, he filed a petition asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review the case. It was docketed as No. 26-349. The Court extended the government’s deadline to respond to November 16, 2026. The justices hear only a small fraction of the cases they are asked to take.

He has tried other routes too. In April 2026, a federal judge denied his motion for a new trial. He has also filed a formal request for a presidential pardon. A White House spokesperson pointed to President Trump’s remarks in January that he had no plans to pardon him, Fortune reported.

Where Is Sam Bankman-Fried Now?

Sam Bankman-Fried is in a federal prison in Lompoc, California, northwest of Santa Barbara, New York magazine reported. He was first held at a low-security prison in Southern California, FCI Terminal Island. The magazine describes his main goal now as getting out, either through the courts or through a pardon.

The court route runs through his Supreme Court petition. His lawyers make two main arguments, the ABA Journal reported. First, they say the jury should not have heard evidence that customers lost money, because prosecutors built the case on fraudulent inducement. Second, they call the $11 billion forfeiture “crushing” and say it breaks the Eighth Amendment’s ban on excessive fines.

He has outside support. On October 15, 2026, five friend-of-the-court briefs were filed, including ones from the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Due Process Institute and a group of bankruptcy law professors, the docket shows. The government’s answer is due November 16. The justices could then decide whether to take the case.

Sam Bankman-Fried Timeline

• 2017: Co-founds Alameda Research, a crypto trading firm.
• 2019: Launches FTX with his former MIT classmate Gary Wang.
• January 2022: FTX is valued at $32 billion.
• November 2, 2022: CoinDesk reports on Alameda’s balance sheet.
• November 11, 2022: FTX files for bankruptcy; he resigns.
• December 12, 2022: Arrested in the Bahamas.
• December 21, 2022: Extradited to the United States.
• October 2023: Trial opens in Manhattan.
• November 2, 2023: Convicted on all seven counts.
• March 28, 2024: Sentenced to 25 years.
• June 12, 2026: Second Circuit affirms.
• September 10, 2026: Supreme Court petition filed.

What Happened to the People Around SBF?

Four former insiders pleaded guilty, and Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced all of them. Caroline Ellison, the former Alameda chief executive and the government’s star witness, got two years in prison. Ryan Salame, another top lieutenant, got seven and a half years in May 2024, CNBC reported.

Two cooperators avoided prison. Nishad Singh, FTX’s former engineering chief, was sentenced to time served with three years of supervised release. Gary Wang, FTX’s co-founder and former technology chief, got the same in November 2024. Prosecutors credited Wang with decoding the FTX software that let customer money move to Alameda. Like the others, he was ordered to forfeit $11 billion.

Person	Role	Outcome
Sam Bankman-Fried	FTX founder and CEO	Convicted on 7 counts; 25 years and $11 billion forfeiture
Caroline Ellison	Alameda Research CEO	Pleaded guilty; 2 years in prison
Ryan Salame	FTX executive	Pleaded guilty; 7.5 years (May 2024)
Nishad Singh	FTX engineering chief	Pleaded guilty; time served
Gary Wang	FTX co-founder, tech chief	Pleaded guilty; time served (Nov. 2024)

Why SBF Went to Jail Before His Trial

After his arrest, Bankman-Fried was released on a $250 million bail package and had to live at his parents’ house in Palo Alto, California, CNBC reported. He kept talking to the press. On July 20, 2023, The New York Times published an article quoting Caroline Ellison’s private writings. Prosecutors told the judge in a letter that day that Bankman-Fried had met one of the reporters and shared documents with him.

Prosecutors said this was an attempt to publicly discredit a government witness. On August 11, 2023, Judge Lewis Kaplan revoked his bail. “My conclusion is there is probable cause to believe the defendant tried to tamper with witnesses at least twice,” Kaplan said. Bankman-Fried was sent to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn and stayed in custody through his trial, which began in October 2023.

What FTX’s New CEO Found

John J. Ray III took over FTX on the day it filed for bankruptcy. In his first sworn court statement, on November 17, 2022, he described a company with almost no controls. Employees asked for payments through an online chat, and a loose group of supervisors approved them “by responding with personalized emojis,” CNBC reported.

Ray also said corporate money in the Bahamas had been used to buy homes and personal items for employees and advisers. Some of that property was recorded in their own names, with no loan paperwork. He wrote that he had never seen “such a complete failure of corporate controls” in his career, and he had cleaned up Enron.

Key Moments From the Trial

The trial ran about a month, and the jury took less than five hours to convict, the BBC reported. Ellison testified that Bankman-Fried “directed” her to use customer money to repay Alameda’s loans. Jurors also heard a November 2022 recording in which she told staff that using FTX customers’ money had been his idea.

Bankman-Fried testified in his own defence. He said he acted in good faith and made mistakes. Under cross-examination he had to answer for past posts saying customer protection was a priority. The seven counts carried a combined maximum of 110 years. Judge Kaplan gave 25 years plus three years of supervised release, the appeals court noted.

The stakes at trial were high. Five of the seven counts carried a maximum of 20 years each and the other two a maximum of five years, for a theoretical total of 110 years, the BBC reported. Ellison had joined Alameda in 2018 and pleaded guilty in December 2022.

The cooperators kept working after the verdict. Prosecutors said Gary Wang had built a tool the government started using to spot potential fraud by public companies, and was working on another for crypto markets, CNBC reported. Assistant U.S. Attorney Nicolas Roos called him the easiest cooperating witness he had ever worked with.

How FTX Sold Itself to the Public

FTX spent heavily on fame. Its glossy ads featured Larry David, Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen, according to the BBC. In 2021 it agreed to a 19-year, $135 million deal to rename the Miami Heat’s arena FTX Arena, Sports Business Journal reported. FTX executives said the platform handled $10 billion to $15 billion in trades a day at its peak.

That publicity made the fall more public. More than a million people were unable to get their money out when FTX collapsed, the BBC reported.

Bankman-Fried is often called the crypto Elizabeth Holmes. Our file on how Theranos fooled its investors shows why the comparison stuck, and where Holmes is now hints at what years in prison look like for a fallen founder.

Sam Bankman-Fried: FAQ

The Verdict

SBF’s story is often told as a crypto story. The court treated it as an old-fashioned one: other people’s money, used without permission, hidden behind a trusted public image. A $32 billion company turned into a 25-year sentence because the deposits customers believed were safe had already been spent.

More files you should read

Billion-Dollar ScamsThe FTX Collapse Explained: How $32 Billion Vanished in Under a WeekBillion-Dollar ScamsWhere Is Elizabeth Holmes Now? From a $4.5 Billion Fortune to a Texas Prison CellBillion-Dollar ScamsElizabeth Holmes and Theranos: How a $9 Billion Blood-Testing Empire Became a FraudBillion-Dollar ScamsBernie Madoff’s Ponzi Scheme: How the Biggest Fraud in History Stole $65 Billion