Sam Bankman-Fried Asks for New Trial on FTX Fraud Charges

(Bloomberg) — FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed a long-shot request for a new trial on charges for which he is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence, arguing that new witnesses could refute the prosecutor’s claim that the cryptocurrency exchange defrauded its customers.

The motion, dated Feb. 5 but decided Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, was filed plainly, meaning Bankman-Fried, 33, is representing herself. The application is separate from the formal appeal against his 2023 conviction. It was sent to the court clerk by Bankman-Fried’s mother, retired Stanford Law Professor Barbara Fried.

A three-judge appeals panel is currently considering an appeal, which alleges that the trial judge’s decisions overshadowed the verdict. Judges were skeptical of his lawyer’s arguments at a hearing in November.

Bankman-Fried’s appellate attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, declined to comment on the request for a new trial. Fried said his son’s brief had been in the works for a long time. “He wanted to write it in his own voice,” he said.

The jury found Bankman-Fried guilty of seven counts, including fraud and conspiracy, and agreed with prosecutors that he illegally transferred billions of dollars from FTX customer accounts to Alameda Research, an affiliated hedge fund. Alameda’s risky investments contributed to FTX’s collapse amid a broader crypto crisis in 2022.

The hearing marked a dramatic decline for a man who was once the public face of cryptocurrency and whose fortune was estimated at $26 billion.

In Tuesday’s filing, Bankman-Fried suggested that two former FTX executives, Daniel Chapsky and Ryan Salame, who did not testify at the hearing, could challenge the prosecution’s account of the crypto exchange’s finances. Salame, who pleaded guilty separately, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

At Bankman-Fried’s appeal hearing, Shapiro argued that U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, wrongly prevented the defense from telling jurors there was plenty of money to be paid back to investors despite FTX’s 2022 collapse.

Kaplan also blocked Bankman-Fried’s lawyers from presenting evidence about advice the former CEO received from lawyers after an unusual hearing in which the judge brought Bankman-Fried to the stand to preview his proposed testimony to the jury for three hours.

Bankman-Fried, who is being held in a federal prison south of Los Angeles, asked that a different judge be appointed to consider her request for a new trial, saying Kaplan had shown “clear bias” against her.

In addition to her legal efforts, Bankman-Fried and her family are also exploring ways to obtain a pardon from President Donald Trump.

(Updates with filing and background details.)

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