The U.S. Court of Appeals is skeptical of SBF's request to overturn the cryptocurrency fraud charges

According to Reuters, on Tuesday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit expressed skepticism about SBF's appeal. His lawyers claimed that the previous trial regarding the FTX fraud case was unfair, and the 25-year sentence imposed on SBF should be overturned.

During the appeal hearing, a panel of three judges raised questions about key issues: Would the exclusion of evidence in the previous trial affect the jury's guilty verdict? Circuit Judge Maria Araujo Kahn questioned SBF's lawyer, asking whether not challenging the sufficiency of the evidence equated to admitting that the evidence was sufficient for conviction. The lawyer responded that even if the evidence was sufficient, the procedural errors made by the trial judge still affected fairness. Prosecutor Nathan Rehn pointed out that the existing evidence has sufficiently proven that SBF misappropriated customer funds. SBF's side argued that the previous trial did not allow the submission of evidence proving that FTX was solvent at the time, leading to a biased verdict. The prosecution emphasized that the evidence chain, including testimonies from three witnesses and a large number of internal documents, was complete and sufficient for conviction. SBF is currently serving his sentence in a low-security prison in Los Angeles and is expected to be released in October 2044.