Federal Judge denies Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for new trial, calling it a reputational rescue attempt and rejecting claims of new evidence in latest blow to former FTX CEO

A federal judge in New York has denied Sam Bankman-Fried’s motion for a new trial, rejecting his claim that newly discovered witnesses and evidence could clear him of fraud charges related to the collapse of FTX. U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York, who presided over Bankman-Fried’s 2023 criminal trial, ruled that none of the three witnesses cited by the defense qualified as “newly discovered” because Bankman-Fried knew of them and their potential testimony before trial and could have sought their evidence at the time. One of them, former FTX executive Nishad Singh, had already testified against him at trial. Kaplan also rejected as “wildly conspiratorial” Bankman-Fried’s assertion that the witnesses failed to testify on his behalf due to government threats, finding that this claim was contradicted by the record. The judge characterized the motion as part of a broader reputation-management plan Bankman-Fried devised after FTX’s November 2022 bankruptcy but before his indictment, rather than a genuine effort based on new facts. The ruling leaves the former FTX CEO still serving a 25‑year federal prison sentence and facing an $11 billion forfeiture order following his conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy tied to what prosecutors described as one of the largest financial frauds in U.S. history. The court also noted that the motion was procedurally flawed: it was filed nearly two years after judgment without good cause for the delay, and while the pending appeal limited the court’s ability to grant a new trial, it was not barred from denying the request outright in the interest of judicial economy. With this avenue now closed, Bankman-Fried’s remaining path to relief runs primarily through his ongoing appeal to the Second Circuit, with any further options—such as post-conviction habeas petitions or clemency—considered unlikely or extraordinary remedies.

✨ AI-generated background, compiled from web sources — not editorial content.

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