Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, is seeking a new trial, according to a request filed in a New York federal court by his mother.
Since being convicted and jailed for 25 years, SBF has continued to challenge his situation in court. The latest motion for a new trial, first reported Tuesday by the Inner City Press, was filed by his mother, Barbara Fried, saying new evidence in the case would warrant a reset. The filing highlights the initial lack of testimony from prominent figures, including FTX’s Ryan Salame, who fought his own separate legal battle.
Former FTX executive Salame was also convicted of federal charges but had claimed to have reached a deal to cooperate with prosecutors that should have protected his wife, Michelle Bond, from prosecution. She was later charged with allegedly accepting illegal campaign contributions as part of her run for Congress.
SBF’s 35-page document came to court as a pro se application, meaning the defendant is representing himself.
The SBF’s previous efforts to argue that it did not get a fair initial trial — which came to a head in November — were met with some skepticism from appeals judges. SBF’s defense in its request for a new appeal trial has drawn attention to FTX’s subsequent solvency, and its account on social media site X continues to argue that the company was not bankrupt when it collapsed. However, the justices argued in November that solvency did not appear to be the main issue.
“Part of the government’s theory of this case is that the defendant falsely represented to investors that their money was safe, that it was not used in the way the government claimed, and that the jury agreed that it was in fact used,” said Circuit Judge Maria Araújo Kahn, referring to the misappropriation of clients’ money at the heart of her conviction.
Closing another potential path to freedom, President Donald Trump recently said he would not consider a pardon for SBF. However, the former FTX CEO continues to campaign for himself through his account on X, arguing that he is a victim of former President Joe Biden’s “legal machine.”
