Sam Bankman Fried spent weeks kissing Trump’s ass, then tried to appeal his conviction and got laughed out of court. 3 judges refused to overturn his 25 year prison sentence. His argument was basically that FTX might eventually have been able to repay customers, as if returning stolen money later somehow erases the fact that it was stolen in the first place. The court made it clear: the fraud happened the moment customer funds were secretly funnelled to Alameda. Whether the hole could later be filled was irrelevant. The former “crypto genius” is still a convicted fraudster, still facing 25 years, and still learning that a courtroom is less forgiving than a conference stage full of gullible journalists, investors and paid admirers. Hopefully Trump does not eventually find a way to turn this into another pardon deal designed to enrich himself.