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 the charges for which he’s currently serving a 25-year prison sentence, arguing that new witnesses can refute the prosecution’s case that he defrauded the cryptocurrency exchange’s customers.

The motion, dated Feb. 5 but docketed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, was filed pro se, meaning Bankman-Fried, 33, is representing himself. The filing is separate from a formal appeal of 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 his appeal, which claims that rulings by the trial judge tainted the verdict. The judges appeared skeptical of his lawyer’s arguments at a November hearing.

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

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

The trial marked a stunning downfall for a figure who had once been the public face of cryptocurrency, with a fortune estimated at $26 billion.

In his Tuesday filing, Bankman-Fried contended that two former FTX executives who didn’t testify at trial, Daniel Chapsky and Ryan Salame, could counter the prosecution’s narrative about the crypto exchange’s financial condition. Salame, who separately pleaded guilty, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison.

At Bankman-Fried’s appeal hearing, Shapiro argued that US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, wrongly blocked the defense from telling jurors there was plenty of money to repay investors, despite the collapse of FTX in 2022. 

Kaplan also blocked Bankman-Fried’s lawyers from presenting evidence about advice the former CEO got from lawyers, after an unusual hearing in which the judge put Bankman-Fried on the stand for three hours, outside the presence of the jury, to preview his proposed testimony.

Bankman-Fried, who is confined in a federal prison south of Los Angeles, asked that a different judge be assigned to consider his motion for a new trial, saying Kaplan had demonstrated “manifest prejudice” toward him.

Along with his legal efforts, Bankman-Fried and his parents have been exploring means of obtaining a pardon from President Donald Trump.

(Updates with detail from the filing and background.)

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