Judge Kaplan denies Bankman-Fried new trial motion

U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan denied FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried's pro se motion for a new trial on Tuesday, rejecting claims of newly discovered evidence that could undermine his 2023 fraud conviction.

Kaplan, who presided over the trial and sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison in March 2024, issued the order despite Bankman-Fried's recent handwritten request to withdraw the motion. In that letter, Bankman-Fried argued he had insufficient time to respond to prosecutors and would not receive a fair hearing from Kaplan. The judge denied the withdrawal and ruled the original February filing lacked merit.

Bankman-Fried, acting without his attorneys while a separate appeal of his conviction and sentence proceeds in the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, contended that testimony from three former FTX executives could counter the government's assertion that the exchange was insolvent at the time of its 2022 collapse. He named Ryan Salame, former CEO of FTX's Bahamian unit; Daniel Chapsky, former head of data science; and Nishad Singh, former engineering lead.

Salame pleaded guilty to campaign finance violations and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting...