(Bloomberg) — FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried filed a long-shot request for a brand new trial on the costs for which he’s at present serving a 25-year jail sentence, arguing that new witnesses can refute the prosecution’s case that he defrauded the cryptocurrency change’s clients.
The movement, dated Feb. 5 however docketed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court docket, was filed professional se, that means Bankman-Fried, 33, is representing himself. The submitting is separate from a proper attraction of his 2023 conviction. It was despatched to the court docket clerk by Bankman-Fried’s mom, retired Stanford Legislation Professor Barbara Fried.
A 3-judge appeals panel is at present contemplating his attraction, which claims that rulings by the trial choose tainted the decision. The judges appeared skeptical of his lawyer’s arguments at a November listening to.
Alexandra Shapiro, Bankman-Fried’s appellate lawyer, declined to touch upon his request for a brand new trial. Fried stated her son’s transient has “been within the works” for a very long time. “He wished to jot down it in his personal voice,” she stated.
A jury discovered Bankman-Fried responsible of seven felony counts together with fraud and conspiracy, agreeing with prosecutors that he illegally transferred billions of {dollars} from FTX buyer accounts to an affiliated hedge fund, Alameda Analysis. Dangerous investments by Alameda contributed to FTX’s collapse amid a broader crypto downturn in 2022.
The trial marked a surprising downfall for a determine who had as soon as been the general public face of cryptocurrency, with a fortune estimated at $26 billion.
In his Tuesday submitting, Bankman-Fried contended that two former FTX executives who didn’t testify at trial, Daniel Chapsky and Ryan Salame, may counter the prosecution’s narrative in regards to the crypto change’s monetary situation. Salame, who individually pleaded responsible, was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in jail.
At Bankman-Fried’s attraction listening to, Shapiro argued that US District Decide Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw the trial, wrongly blocked the protection from telling jurors there was loads of cash to repay traders, regardless of the collapse of FTX in 2022.
Kaplan additionally blocked Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals from presenting proof about recommendation the previous CEO bought from legal professionals, after an uncommon listening to by which the choose put Bankman-Fried on the stand for 3 hours, exterior the presence of the jury, to preview his proposed testimony.
Bankman-Fried, who’s confined in a federal jail south of Los Angeles, requested {that a} completely different choose be assigned to think about his movement for a brand new trial, saying Kaplan had demonstrated “manifest prejudice” towards him.
Alongside together with his authorized efforts, Bankman-Fried and his dad and mom have been exploring technique of acquiring a pardon from President Donald Trump.
(Updates with element from the submitting and background.)
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