SBF Seeks US Supreme Court Review, Challenges $11 Billion Forfeiture

Sam Bankman-Fried, the former chief executive officer of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, petitioned the US Supreme Court last month to review his conviction.

Cointelegraph reported on October 14 that Jeffrey Fisher, an attorney for Bankman-Fried, recently asked the high court to hear the case. The Supreme Court will decide whether to take it up after the government files its response and subsequent procedures are completed.

According to the Supreme Court, Bankman-Fried filed his petition for certiorari on September 10. The court granted the US government's request to extend its response deadline to November 16 from October 15.

The defense believes the court could decide by the end of this year whether to hear the case. If the petition is granted, Fisher said, a ruling could come by June 2027, though the schedule could slip.

The defense raised two main issues. First, it argued that actual financial loss was not a required element to prove guilt in the case, but evidence implying losses by victims was introduced and may have unfairly prejudiced the jury.

It also argued that the $11 billion asset forfeiture order was excessive enough to strip Bankman-Fried of any realistic ability to support himself in the future. The defense says the order violates the Eighth Amendment's ban on excessive fines.

Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on seven counts. In 2024, he was sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion in assets. The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the ruling this year.