FTX Founder Withdraws Request for New Trial, Citing Fairness Concerns

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally withdrawn his motion for a retrial, expressing concerns that he would not receive a fair hearing. Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence following his conviction on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy related to FTX's collapse in 2022, indicated that he might renew the motion after the resolution of his direct appeal and a related request for the reassignment of his case. The motion for a new trial was initially filed by his mother, Barbara Fried, citing the emergence of new evidence that could warrant a retrial. Bankman-Fried drafted the motion himself while in detention, with minimal assistance, and later consulted with his lawyers and family members, incorporating some of their suggestions into the final version. He shared earlier drafts with a New York-based attorney who was initially hired to represent him in the motion but ultimately decided to represent himself. The appeal is currently pending before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where his attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, argued during oral arguments in November that the trial was fundamentally unfair due to limitations on the evidence Bankman-Fried could present to the jury.