Sam Bankman-Fried Drops Request for New Trial, Citing Concerns Over Fairness

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally withdrawn his motion for a retrial, expressing doubts about receiving a fair hearing. In a letter to the presiding judge, Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy related to FTX's collapse in 2022, indicated that he might refile the motion after his appeal and a related request for reassignment have been decided. The original motion for a new trial was submitted by his mother, Barbara Fried, citing newly discovered evidence that could warrant a retrial. Bankman-Fried revealed that he had primarily drafted the motion himself while in detention, with limited input from his lawyers and family members. He clarified that although he sought editorial and organizational suggestions from his lawyers and parents, the final motion was largely his own work. Bankman-Fried's appeal is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where his lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, argued during November's oral arguments that the trial was fundamentally unfair due to restrictions on the evidence Bankman-Fried could present to the jury.