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Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally withdrawn his motion for a retrial, expressing concerns that he would not receive a fair hearing. Bankman-Fried, currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for his role in FTX's 2022 collapse, had initially filed the motion through his mother, Barbara Fried, citing the emergence of new evidence that could warrant a retrial. However, he has since decided to await the outcome of his direct appeal and a related request for the case to be reassigned to a different judge before potentially refiling the motion. The initial motion was largely drafted by Bankman-Fried himself while in detention, with minor editorial assistance from his lawyers and family members. His appeal, currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, argues that his trial was fundamentally unfair, with his attorney highlighting restrictions on the evidence he could present to the jury during oral arguments in November.