Sam Bankman-Fried demands new trial citing ‘newly discovered evidence’

Two years after a jury convicted Sam Bankman-Fried of orchestrating one of the largest frauds in US history, the former billionaire has requested a new trial, citing “newly discovered evidence.”

That evidence includes an affidavit in which a former colleague said he would have testified on Bankman-Fried’s behalf during the latter’s 2023 trial had prosecutors not threatened retaliation.

But Bankman-Fried’s purported innocence continues to rely on a highly dubious claim: that his crypto exchange, FTX, was not insolvent when it collapsed in 2022, but illiquid.

While Bankman-Fried was barred from marking that argument during his trial, he has relied on it in virtually every public appearance after his conviction.

He raised it during his sentencing hearing in 2024 and during an appellate hearing last year in which judges appeared sceptical of the claim the trial was rigged against him.

And it comes as Bankman-Fried continues a social media campaign seemingly geared towards earning the favour of President Donald Trump, who last year pardoned crypto criminals Ross Ulbricht and Changpeng Zhao.

Aggressive prosecutors

FTX filed for bankruptcy in November 2022, when it was unable to honour a stampede of customer withdrawals.

Bankman-Fried has insisted he could have honoured those withdrawals, if only he’d been given enough time. That is, FTX had assets exceeding his liabilities, according to Bankman-Fried, but they were assets that could not immediately be converted to cash, such as company stock.

Daniel Chapsky, the former head of data science at FTX, signed an affidavit on January 1 stating he had been willing to say as much at trial. But he was dissuaded by his attorneys, who cited potential “media attacks” and retaliation from prosecutors.

But critics say that’s beside the point. According to evidence presented at trial, Bankman-Fried illegally used customer money to make risky investments and to purchase luxury property.

Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over the trial, summed up the counterargument when he levied Bankman-Fried’s 25-year prison sentence.

“A thief who takes his loot to Las Vegas and successfully bets the stolen money is not entitled to a discount on his sentence,” Kaplan said at the beginning of the hearing.

In his latest filing, Bankman-Fried also cites statements in which Ryan Salame, an FTX executive serving a seven-year prison sentence, said he would have testified for Bankman-Fried’s defence in 2023 if not for prosecutors’ aggressive tactics.

Bankman-Fried also said that Nishad Singh, a former FTX executive who testified for the government, was also strong-armed by prosecutors. Bankman-Fried cited court records that show Singh initially claimed he was unaware of a “hole” in FTX’s balance sheet.

Self-representation

In a curious twist, Bankman-Fried intends on representing himself going forward. The request for a new trial was filed by his mother, Stanford University professor Barbara Fried, only because he is currently imprisoned, she wrote in a cover letter accompanying the documents.

During November’s appellate hearing, he was represented by attorney Alexandra Shapiro. She argued Kaplan had not allowed the former billionaire to mount a full defence at trial.

But she was subjected to frequent and pointed questioning from a three-judge panel. The judges have an informal six-month deadline to issue their ruling, but Bankman-Fried’s odds of success are low — between 2011 and 2015, about 6% of federal criminal appeals succeeded, according to data from the US court system.

Meanwhile, Bankman-Fried has continued posting on social media.

On Tuesday, he alleged FTX attorneys had forged the company’s bankruptcy documents.

“But FTX was never bankrupt. I never filed for it,” he wrote. “The lawyers took over the company and 4 hours later they filed a bogus bankruptcy so they could pilfer it for money.”

Previously, he had claimed he filed for bankruptcy but only did so under immense pressure from company attorneys.

Aleks Gilbert is DL News’ New York-based DeFi Correspondent. Reach out to him with tips at [e-mail].