Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the collapsed crypto exchange FTX, has withdrawn his request for a new trial due to doubts that he would get a fair trial in a letter to the judge overseeing his case.
Bankman-Fried, who is serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy in connection with the 2022 collapse of FTX, said he may renew the motion after his direct appeal and a related request for reassignment are decided.
The motion for a new trial was filed by his mother, Barbara Fried, arguing that new evidence in the case would justify a mistrial.
Bankman-Fried said he largely drafted the motion himself while incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with limited assistance.
Although he clarified that he is the “author of the letter” to the judge, he consulted his lawyers and his parents “as it concerns both of them,” he said.
“They made editorial and organizational suggestions, some of which I incorporated into the proposal,” Bankman-Fried said. “They also helped print it out since I no longer had access to a word processor. I also shared earlier drafts with a New York attorney originally hired to represent me in the Rule 33 motion before I decided to represent myself; they had no significant input into the ultimate decision.”
A Rule 33 motion is a formal request to a federal court for a new trial based on new evidence or in the interest of justice.
The appeal is currently before the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. During oral arguments in November, his attorney, Alexandra Shapiro, argued that the trial was “fundamentally unfair,” including limitations on what Bankman-Fried could present to the jury.
