Sam Bankman-Fried Drops Retrial Request, Citing Fairness Concerns

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the now-defunct FTX cryptocurrency exchange, has formally withdrawn his request for a retrial, expressing doubts about receiving a fair hearing. In a letter to the presiding judge, Bankman-Fried indicated that he might revive the motion after the outcome of his direct appeal and a related request for reassignment have been determined. 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 is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence following his conviction on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy related to FTX's collapse in 2022, drafted the motion himself while in detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with limited assistance. Although he sought input from his lawyers and family members, Bankman-Fried maintained that he was the primary author of the letter to the judge. His lawyers and family provided editorial suggestions and helped with printing the document, as he no longer had access to a word processor. A New York attorney who was initially hired to represent him on the Rule 33 motion also reviewed earlier drafts but had minimal input on the final version. A Rule 33 motion is a formal petition to a federal court for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence or in the interest of justice. 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, citing restrictions on the evidence Bankman-Fried could present to the jury.