Sam Bankman‑Fried Asks Supreme Court For New Trial and to Vacate $11 Billion Forfeiture

His petition argues trial judges wrongly barred defense proof that assets could cover customer losses and that the $11 billion penalty is an unconstitutional excessive fine.

Overview

Bankman‑Fried filed a petition to the U.S. Supreme Court seeking a new trial and asking justices to set aside an $11.02 billion forfeiture order, with the filing made on Thursday.
The petition contends the trial court excluded defense evidence that FTX and Alameda held assets sufficient to repay customers and that those exclusions unfairly let prosecutors portray large customer losses.
His lawyers frame the evidentiary claim around the 2025 Supreme Court decision in Kousisis v. United States, arguing that if prosecutors do not need to prove economic loss then defendants should be allowed to introduce contrary loss or repayment evidence.
Bankman‑Fried is serving a 25‑year federal prison term after a 2023 jury conviction that the Second Circuit unanimously upheld earlier this year, and the Supreme Court must first decide whether to grant review.
If the justices take the case, their ruling could change how courts treat financial‑loss evidence in fraud trials and how large criminal forfeitures are judged under the Eighth Amendment, affecting future prosecutions and sentencing.