Sam Bankman-Fried Demands a New Trial

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FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried has officially contested his conviction for fraud by appealing for a new trial.

Bankman-Fried accused the judge in his case, US District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York (SDNY), of showing unfair bias against him.

In November of last year, a New York jury found Bankman-Fried guilty of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy related to the collapse of his crypto exchange in November 2022.

In March, Judge Kaplan sentenced him to 25 years in prison. In the appeal, which was submitted on Friday, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argued that the judge showed prejudice against his client throughout the trial, and made negative comments about his defense and testimony in front of the jury.

Bankman-Fried’s legal team also pointed out that he was not given the presumption of innocence, and accused the judge of already believing him to be guilty before the trial began.

His new lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, took over from his previous trial lawyers, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, following his conviction.