Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has withdrawn his bid for a new trial. He informed the presiding judge that he doubts he would receive a fair hearing on the matter.
This withdrawal, filed from federal prison in Lompoc, California, allows Bankman-Fried to potentially refile the motion later, pending the outcome of his separate appeal.
In a letter dated April 22, Bankman-Fried stated that he largely conceived, researched, and drafted the retrial motion himself while at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. His parents, Stanford law professors Barbara Fried and Joe Bankman, assisted with editing and printing due to restricted computer access. He indicated that his legal attorneys had minimal involvement.
The judge had questioned Bankman-Fried about whether a lawyer had ghostwritten the motion. Rather than contest this line of inquiry, he chose to withdraw the entire request.
Bankman-Fried wrote to US District Judge Lewis Kaplan, "I do not believe I will get a fair hearing on this topic in front of you."
The retrial request, known as a Rule 33 motion, was initially filed in February. It allows defendants to seek a new trial based on newly discovered evidence or fundamental unfairness. Bankman-Fried's filing argued for a reopening of the case based on new evidence, but it quickly drew scrutiny over its authorship rather than its substance.
FTX collapsed and filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, with approximately $8 billion in customer funds reported missing. Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on seven counts of financial fraud and subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison in March 2024.
His conviction stemmed from the commingling of customer deposits between FTX and his affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research. His defense argued he relied on legal counsel's advice for these arrangements, a defense that Judge Kaplan significantly restricted during the trial.
The appeal is currently before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. Bankman-Fried's legal team is also seeking to have the case reassigned to a different judge, alleging bias.
The withdrawal of the retrial motion is strategically tied to the resolution of these ongoing appellate proceedings. If the appeals court finds the original trial was flawed, the retrial motion could become moot. If not, Bankman-Fried can still pursue refiling without the current authorship controversy.