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

The founder of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has officially withdrawn his motion for a retrial, citing concerns that he would not receive a fair hearing. Bankman-Fried, who is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for his role in the 2022 collapse of FTX, had initially filed the motion through his mother, Barbara Fried, who claimed that new evidence had come to light that would warrant a new trial. However, in a letter to the presiding judge, Bankman-Fried stated that he may renew the motion after the outcome of his direct appeal and a related request for reassignment have been decided. The motion for a new trial was largely drafted by Bankman-Fried himself while he was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with some input from his lawyers and family members. Bankman-Fried's appeal is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where his attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, has argued that the original trial was unfair due to limitations on the evidence that Bankman-Fried was allowed to present to the jury.