FTX Founder Withdraws Request for New Trial, Citing Unfair Hearing Concerns

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally withdrawn his motion for a retrial, expressing concerns that he may not receive a fair hearing. Currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the exchange's collapse in 2022, Bankman-Fried indicated that he might revive the motion after the resolution of his direct appeal and a related request for the case to be reassigned. The initial motion for a new trial was submitted 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 at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with minimal assistance. Although he sought input from his lawyers and family members, he maintained that he was the primary author of the letter to the judge. Bankman-Fried's appeal is currently pending before the U.S. 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 restrictions on the evidence Bankman-Fried could present to the jury.