A U.S. federal judge has rejected Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial, closing off his latest attempt to challenge his fraud conviction tied to the collapse of FTX.
Summary
- A U.S. judge has denied Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial, rejecting claims that new witnesses could alter the outcome.
- Judge Lewis Kaplan has ruled that the cited witnesses were not newly discovered and said the defence could have sought their testimony during the trial.
- The court has dismissed allegations of government pressure on witnesses as unsupported, while Bankman-Fried’s appeal remains ongoing.
According to a ruling issued Tuesday by U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan, the former FTX chief failed to present any valid new evidence, with the court stating that the witnesses cited in his motion were neither newly discovered nor unavailable during trial.
“None of the witnesses, for example, is ‘newly discovered,’” Kaplan wrote, adding that Bankman-Fried could have sought to compel their testimony but did not.
Court filings show the judge also dismissed claims that the absence of those witnesses stemmed from government pressure, describing the argument as “wildly conspiratorial and entirely contradicted by the record.”
The motion itself, Kaplan wrote, formed part of “a plan to rescue his reputation” that had been conceived after FTX filed for bankruptcy but before criminal charges were brought.
Court rejects witness and solvency arguments
In his filing, Bankman-Fried pointed to three former FTX executives, including Ryan Salame and Daniel Chapsky, arguing their testimony could challenge the government’s claim that the exchange was insolvent. Court documents note that both individuals were known to him well before trial, undercutting the argument that their input qualifies as new evidence.
Bankman-Fried also alleged that Nishad Singh altered his testimony after facing pressure from prosecutors. Kaplan rejected that claim, citing the trial record and stating the defence had not attempted to compel testimony from any of the individuals.
U.S. prosecutors, in earlier filings opposing the retrial request, argued that the defence’s failure to call or subpoena these witnesses invalidated any claim that their statements surfaced after the trial.
Prosecutors further challenged assertions that FTX’s restructuring efforts proved solvency, stating in court filings that the exchange once held just 105 BTC against customer claims nearing 100,000 BTC, calling the defence’s argument “factually wrong, legally irrelevant, and deeply misleading.”
Withdrawal attempt fails to prevent formal denial
Although Bankman-Fried had moved to withdraw his request last week, telling the court he did not expect “a fair hearing” before Kaplan, the judge proceeded with a formal denial to close the matter.
The motion had originally been filed in February without the involvement of his legal team, while his appeal against conviction and sentence remained pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Earlier correspondence reviewed by the court showed Bankman-Fried described the withdrawal as “without prejudice,” leaving open the possibility of renewing the request after appellate proceedings or a reassignment decision. His request for a different judge to oversee any future motion remains unresolved.
Conviction and sentence remain under appeal
A jury in 2023 found Bankman-Fried guilty on seven counts, including fraud and money laundering, after prosecutors showed he diverted billions in customer funds from FTX to its affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research, to cover losses and fund other expenditures.
Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison in early 2024, and he is currently being held at a federal facility in Lompoc, California. His direct appeal continues in parallel, forming the main legal path left to challenge the conviction after the court’s rejection of the retrial request.