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

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally withdrawn his motion for a retrial, expressing doubts about receiving a fair trial. Currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy related to FTX's collapse in 2022, Bankman-Fried indicated that he might revisit 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, who drafted the motion himself while in detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, noted that he had limited assistance and consulted with his lawyers and family members, who provided editorial suggestions. He shared that a New York attorney, initially hired for the motion, had minimal input in the final version. The appeal is ongoing at 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.