Founder of FTX Withdraws Request for Retrial Due to Concerns Over Fairness

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has retracted his motion for a retrial, citing concerns that he would not receive a fair trial. Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for his role in the 2022 collapse of FTX, had filed the motion himself while in detention, with some assistance from his lawyers and family members. He stated that he may refile the motion after the outcome of his direct appeal and a related request for reassignment are decided. The motion had been filed on his behalf by his mother, Barbara Fried, who claimed that new evidence had come to light that would justify a new trial. Bankman-Fried's appeal is currently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where his attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, has argued that the original trial was fundamentally unfair due to limitations on the evidence that Bankman-Fried was allowed to present to the jury.