Sam Bankman-Fried Drops Request for Retrial, Citing Concerns Over Fairness

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has formally withdrawn his motion for a retrial due to concerns that he would not receive a fair trial. In a letter to the presiding judge, Bankman-Fried expressed his intention to potentially renew the motion after the resolution of his direct appeal and a related request for the case to be reassigned. 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, citing the existence of new evidence that could warrant a retrial. Although Bankman-Fried drafted the motion himself while in detention, he did consult with his lawyers and family members, incorporating some of their suggestions into the final version. The motion was filed under Rule 33, a federal court provision that allows for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence or in the interests of justice. Bankman-Fried's appeal is currently pending before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, where his lawyer argued that the original trial was fundamentally unfair, citing restrictions on the evidence Bankman-Fried could present to the jury.