Public Record of Sam Bankman-Fried

In November 2023 a Manhattan jury convicted Samuel Bankman-Fried, founder of the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, on seven felony counts of fraud and conspiracy. In March 2024 a federal judge sentenced him to twenty-five years in prison and ordered about eleven billion dollars in forfeiture. In June 2026 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit affirmed that judgment. In August 2026 the court issued its mandate. The conviction stands.This digital-only book is not a tabloid life story. It is a court-and-record narrative for readers who want the public file in one place: the December 2022 indictment and arrest in the Bahamas; John J. Ray III's first-day bankruptcy declaration; Caroline Ellison's guilty-plea allocution and trial testimony as reported by the wires; the November 2, 2023, verdict; the Department of Justice sentencing release; the 2026 appellate opinion and mandate; and the FTX Recovery Trust's 2025-2026 creditor distributions, including the fifth round announced for July 31, 2026.L. Merrick writes from documents and major-outlet reporting, with citations in the text and a full sources list of URLs actually consulted. The book distinguishes criminal findings from civil complaints, from unpublished draft congressional remarks, and from later bankruptcy recoveries. It does not invent quotations, does not speculate about uncharged crimes, and does not traffic in private family gossip.A separate legal point, settled on appeal, is explained in plain language: paying allowed bankruptcy claims years later does not erase wire fraud committed when customer funds were taken. The estate's recoveries and the prison term occupy different ledgers. Both are part of the 2026 record.Intended for general readers, journalists, students of white-collar cases, and FTX claimants who want a sober chronology rather than a manifesto.