FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried Files New Trial Motion


Imprisoned FTX founder Sam #Bankman-Fried submitted a motion Tuesday requesting a new trial, with the filing made by his mother in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The motion alleges prosecutorial misconduct and claims the Department of Justice withheld critical information.


Barbara Fried, a Stanford Law professor specializing in ethics, filed the pro se motion on behalf of her son. Bankman-Fried dismissed his appellate attorney, Jason Driscoll, on Friday and now represents himself in the #legal proceedings, according to court documents.


The filing invokes Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which permits defendants to request new trials within three years of conviction if they claim to have discovered new evidence. The rule allows for this extended timeline compared to the standard 14-day window for other retrial requests.


Bankman-Fried's memo accuses prosecutors of falsely alleging he stole customer assets from #FTX, resulting in billions in customer losses. The filing also requests Judge Lewis Kaplan's recusal from any future proceedings in the case.


The document claims multiple potential defense witnesses were pressured by the DOJ into withdrawing their testimony. Bankman-Fried alleges several individuals have come forward since the trial describing how prosecutors intimidated them into avoiding participation in his defense.


A New York jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven criminal #counts involving fraud against FTX customers, lenders, and investors. He received a 25-year prison sentence after prosecutors characterized the scheme as potentially the largest #fraud in the past decade, drawing comparisons to Bernie Madoff.

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February 11, 2026 at 4:26 AM
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