A US court has definitively rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's (SBF) request for a new trial, upholding his conviction on multiple fraud charges related to the collapse of FTX. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan issued the order, dismissing the defense's arguments as 'wildly conspiratorial' and 'baseless.'
The motion for a new trial, filed in early 2025, centered on claims of prosecutorial misconduct, improper jury instructions, and the alleged withholding of exculpatory evidence. Bankman-Fried’s legal team argued that key witnesses, including former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame and former FTX head of data science Daniel Chapsky, were too intimidated to testify. Judge Kaplan countered that SBF 'could have obtained or at least sought to compel their testimony. But he did neither.' The judge also criticized Bankman-Fried’s public relations efforts, noting that the 'so-called facts' had been 'seen before. Many times.'
Bankman-Fried was found guilty in November 2023 on all seven criminal counts of defrauding customers, lenders, and investors of FTX. Prosecutors described the scheme as 'likely the largest fraud in the last decade,' likening it to the Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernie Madoff. He was subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024, with a forfeiture order of billions of dollars to compensate victims.
The rejection of the new trial closes one of the final avenues for overturning the verdict without an appeal. SBF had also previously filed a motion seeking Judge Kaplan’s recusal, which was withdrawn after SBF stated he did not believe he would receive a 'fair hearing.' An appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals is still pending, but legal experts consider the chances of a reversal to be low. Bankman-Fried has also sought a pardon from President Donald Trump, though the president has indicated he has no plans to grant one.
