Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals 25-Year Sentence, Seeks New Trial Amid Allegations of Judicial Bias

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals 25-Year Sentence, Seeks New Trial Amid Allegations of Judicial Bias

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has officially challenged his 25-year prison sentence, following his five-week trial that concluded late last year.

As reported by The New York Times, Bankman-Fried filed an appeal against the November 2023 court decision, which found him guilty of defrauding investors out of more than $8 billion. His new attorney, Alexandra A.E. Shapiro, argued in a 102-page brief that the trial’s presiding judge, Lewis A. Kaplan, had a bias against her client, implying that the judge had prejudged Bankman-Fried as guilty from the outset. The filing is seeking a retrial, citing claims that Judge Kaplan obstructed the defense’s ability to present critical evidence.

Once a crypto billionaire, Bankman-Fried has been serving his sentence in a federal facility since last year. Throughout his trial in Manhattan, the former CEO continued to assert his innocence, maintaining that he never intended to misappropriate customer funds or mislead investors and regulators about the financial health of FTX.

Meanwhile, other FTX executives who have cooperated with prosecutors, such as former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and Ryan Salame, are also facing potential prison sentences. Ellison’s legal team has sought a more lenient supervised release, while Salame has been embroiled in a dispute with Justice Department officials over campaign finance violations involving his partner.

Nearly two years after the collapse of FTX, related legal battles are ongoing. The now-defunct exchange, along with its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research, recently reached a court-approved settlement worth $12.7 billion with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). Additionally, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) signaled it may challenge FTX’s plans to repay its creditors using stablecoins in the company’s bankruptcy proceedings.