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 retracted his request 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 fraud and conspiracy related to FTX's 2022 collapse, indicated that he may refile the motion after the outcome of his direct appeal and a related request for reassignment have been decided. The initial motion for a new trial was submitted by his mother, Barbara Fried, who claimed that newly discovered evidence warranted a retrial. Bankman-Fried stated that he had primarily drafted the motion himself while in detention, with limited input from his lawyers and family members. He clarified that although his lawyers and parents provided editorial suggestions, he was the primary author of the letter to the judge. A Rule 33 motion, which is a formal request for a new trial based on new evidence or in the interest of justice, is currently pending. The appeal is presently before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where Bankman-Fried's 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.