Judge Shoots Down Sam Bankman-Fried's Bid for New Trial

A national justice has rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's bid for a caller trial, dealing a stroke to the imprisoned FTX founder's efforts to overturn his fraud conviction.

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a scathing denial Tuesday, dismissing Bankman-Fried's claims that determination were caller witnesses whose grounds warranted a caller trial. "None of the witnesses, for example, is 'newly discovered,'" Kaplan wrote successful his ruling, noting that Bankman-Fried "could person obtained oregon astatine slightest sought to compel their testimony. But helium did neither."

The justice characterized the question arsenic portion of a calculated reputational rehabilitation effort, stating that "This question appears to beryllium 1 portion of a program to rescue his estimation that Bankman-Fried hatched and adjacent committed to penning aft FTX declared bankruptcy but earlier helium was indicted," according to tribunal documents.

Bankman-Fried's condemnation and condemnation are nether information by the national appeals tribunal successful New York, but the FTX laminitis had besides separately sought a retrial successful a question filed by his parent successful February connected his behalf. Although Bankman-Fried withdrew it past week, claiming helium wouldn't person a just proceeding from Judge Kaplan, the tribunal inactive issued a ceremonial denial to adjacent the matter.

The FTX laminitis had alleged that Nishad Singh, the firm's caput of engineering, had changed his communicative aft "threats from the government," and that 2 different executives, Daniel Chapsky and Ryan Salame, would quality the prosecution's claims, but that they had declined to attest for fearfulness of retaliation.

In his filing, Judge Kaplan stated that Bankman-Fried's assertions that the witnesses' lack was owed to "government threats and retaliation" was "wildly conspiratorial and wholly contradicted by the record."

Government prosecutors had already mounted a forceful absorption to the retrial petition earlier its withdrawal. "The defense's determination not to enactment the witnesses connected his witnesser database oregon compel their grounds forecloses immoderate assertion that their post-trial views are recently discovered," U.S. prosecutors wrote.

Prosecutors peculiarly disputed Bankman-Fried's proposition that FTX's existent reorganization efforts someway vindicated him. The filing noted that astatine 1 point, the speech held conscionable 105 BTC against lawsuit claims approaching 100,000 BTC. "The motion's astir assertive claim—that FTX was solvent, that customers person since been made whole, and that the prosecution truthful rested connected a lie—is factually wrong, legally irrelevant, and profoundly misleading," prosecutors stated.

SBF's ineligible battles

The denial marks the latest section successful the ineligible saga that began with FTX's melodramatic November 2022 collapse. Sam Bankman-Fried was charged with multiple counts of fraud, conspiracy and wealth laundering, with prosecutors alleging helium misappropriated billions successful lawsuit funds from his speech to screen losses astatine his trading steadfast Alameda Research and money governmental donations and luxury purchases.

His conviction connected each charges successful November 2023 represented 1 of the astir important white-collar prosecutions successful caller history, with the 25-year sentence reflecting the standard of the alleged fraud.

Bankman-Fried has pursued aggregate strategies since his conviction, requesting a caller trial aft firing his lawyer successful February, portion a tribunal missive submitted successful his sanction but written by his parent was rejected by Judge Kaplan a period later. President Trump has ruled retired a pardon for the FTX founder, further limiting his options for aboriginal release.