Sam Bankman-Fried has withdrawn his motion for a new trial, telling New York Judge Lewis Kaplan in a court filing that he does not expect a fair hearing from the judge.
The withdrawal letter
In a letter filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Bankman-Fried said his attention had been consumed by responding to Kaplan’s questions about whether his attorney wrote the motion rather than preparing a proper response to the prosecution’s opposition.
He wrote:
“As I have had to focus on responding to these questions rather than drafting a response to the prosecution’s opposition, and because I do not believe I will get a fair hearing on this topic in front of you, I am now requesting to withdraw the Rule 33 motion, without prejudice to renewing it after my direct appeal and the related request for reassignment have been ruled upon.”
The withdrawal is without prejudice, meaning he can refile after his direct appeal is resolved.
Background on the motion
In March, Bankman-Fried’s mother, Barbara Fried, filed the pro se motion for a new trial on her son’s behalf.
Bankman-Fried said Wednesday that he personally “conceived” the Rule 33 motion, drafted multiple versions, and conducted much of the legal research himself while incarcerated in Brooklyn — without consulting his attorney.
He said:
“They made editorial and organizational suggestions, some of which I incorporated into the motion. They also helped print it, as I no longer had access to a word processor.”
Conviction and sentencing
Bankman-Fried was convicted in November 2023 on all seven criminal counts of defrauding FTX customers, lenders, and investors — what prosecutors called likely the largest fraud of the past decade.
He was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
He has also sought a pardon from President Donald Trump, though Trump said in January he has no plans to grant one.
