Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried appeals conviction and sentence

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried filed an appeal on Thursday after being found guilty on seven criminal counts involving fraud. 

The former executive filed his notice of appeal to Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The appeal concerned both his conviction and sentence, according to court documents. Bankman-Fried's move to appeal was viewed by many legal experts as likely to happen.

Bankman-Fried was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison on March 28 and ordered to pay back up to $11 billion in investor and lender losses. At the sentencing, Kaplan asserted that Bankman-Fried had committed perjury during his trial and said he knew what he was doing was wrong. 

Bankman-Fried told the court during his sentencing that he had made "selfish decisions" while adding that customers' funds were lost in a "liquidity crisis" precipitated by FTX staff's mismanagement of users' accounts and the company's broader operations. 

Jail time 

Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November by a jury in New York of all seven criminal counts of defrauding the customers, lenders and investors of FTX. Prosecutors say Bankman-Fried orchestrated "likely the largest fraud in the last decade." Bankman-Fried's family has pleaded with the court, saying the disgraced former crypto market wunderkind is "wracked with remorse" and worries about his safety in prison. 

Judge Kaplan recommended Bankman-Fried to serve time in a medium- or low-security prison near the California Bay Area, citing that his "association with vast wealth" and social skills may make him a target for aggression by fellow inmates. 

Lawyers for Bankman-Fried asked Judge Kaplan on Monday if their client could stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while his appeal process pans out.