US Judge Rejects SBF Bid for New Trial, Says It Was Meant to Rebuild Reputation

A US court rejected FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial.

Judge Lewis Kaplan of the US District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Bankman-Fried’s motion for a retrial, Bloomberg reported on April 28. Bankman-Fried had argued that the case should be reopened based on new evidence, but the court rejected that claim.

Bankman-Fried had also indicated he would withdraw the request himself, but the court did not allow that either. His challenge to the fairness of the trial was also rejected.

Kaplan wrote that the motion appeared to be “part of a plan to rehabilitate his reputation” that was conceived before he was charged after FTX collapsed. He also questioned the credibility of the arguments.

Bankman-Fried is separately pursuing an appeal. He is represented by appellate lawyer Alexandra Shapiro, and the case is being heard by the federal appeals court in New York.

Prosecutors charged Bankman-Fried with seven counts, including fraud and conspiracy. He was accused of diverting customer funds to affiliated hedge fund Alameda Research and improperly using billions of dollars. A jury found him guilty on all counts in 2023, and he was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.

In seeking a new trial, Bankman-Fried argued that testimony from some former executives would conflict with the prosecution’s case. The court said those claims were contradicted by the record. It also rejected his assertion that statements by Nishad Singh, one of the key witnesses, had been changed under government pressure, calling it an “unsupported conspiratorial claim.”

He is currently being held at the federal prison in Lompoc, California.