Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has initiated the appeals process challenging his recent conviction and 25-year prison term for perpetrating one of the largest financial frauds in U.S history.

In a filing submitted to the New York-based 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals this week, Bankman-Fried's legal team signaled their intent to contest the guilty verdicts on seven criminal fraud and conspiracy counts handed down in the FTX case.

The appeal casts doubt over the legal basis for Bankman-Fried's conviction and punitive sentence imposed by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan last month. His lawyers argue the proceedings were marred by myriad errors that unfairly deprived the disgraced crypto mogul of his constitutional rights.

"There were significant wrongs throughout that led to a fundamentally unfair trial," stated Marc Mukasey, lead defense attorney for Bankman-Fried, following the March sentencing. "With today's notice of appeal, we'll continue battling to right those wrongs."

Bankman-Fried, 31, was found guilty in December of orchestrating a vast scheme to defraud investors and misappropriate billions in customer funds held at his FTX cryptocurrency exchange. Federal prosecutors called it one of the most egregious financial crimes in American history.

At his sentencing last month, Judge Kaplan condemned Bankman-Fried's "a staggering idiocy" in steering FTX toward its implosion in late 2022. The 25-year term exceeded recommendations from both prosecutors and the defense, reflecting judicial outrage over FTX's $8 billion black hole of missing assets.

Throughout the proceedings, Bankman-Fried maintained his innocence while acknowledging risk management failures at FTX. His defense leaned heavily on prior philanthropic endeavors and associations with the "effective altruism" movement as mitigating factors.

Those arguments, however, failed to sway Judge Kaplan, who lamented the fraud's devastating impact on FTX customers and reputation damage inflicted on the wider crypto industry. "Bankman-Fried's respected position at the top of the crypto world has turned out to be an act of influence peddling," Kaplan said.

The appeals process initiates what could be a prolonged legal battle winding through the federal circuit courts and potentially reaching the U.S. Supreme Court as Bankman-Fried contests the validity of charges filed after FTX's $32 billion implosion.

Wednesday's filing gives the defense an opportunity to argue Bankman-Fried's constitutional rights were violated and evidence was insufficient to convict based on the complex details around FTX's liquidity crunch and relationship with associated trading firm Alameda Research.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, will double down on allegations Bankman-Fried brazenly commingled FTX customer deposits with Alameda's risky trading activities, engaged in illicit lending practices, and intentionally misled investors about both firms' financial standing.

The FTX debacle continues reverberating across the cryptocurrency markets as regulators scrutinize industry practices and customers strive to recover remaining assets placed under bankruptcy protection.

No matter the eventual outcome of the appeals process, the damage to crypto's mainstream credibility may be irreversible. Still, Bankman-Fried's legal saga promises to chart new judicial ground as American courts wrestle with adjudicating the era's first high-profile crypto fraud case of this magnitude.