Bankman-Fried’s attorneys criticized New York District Judge Lewis Kaplan’s handling of the case, arguing that his client was denied access to key evidence at trial. “He was presumed guilty before he was charged. He was presumed guilty by the media, the FTX asset management team, and his attorneys,” Bankman-Fried’s attorneys wrote in a 102-page appeal. “He was presumed guilty by federal prosecutors seeking quick headlines, and by the judge.”
Bankman-Fried was convicted on all seven counts of criminal fraud in November 2023. Prosecutors accused him of running one of the biggest scams of the past decade, drawing comparisons to Bernie Madoff, the mastermind of one of the most famous Ponzi schemes. Bankman-Fried was later sentenced to 25 years in prison.
Attorney Alexandra Shapiro said the jury “only got half the story” because the court excluded evidence that Bankman-Fried had no intention of stealing client money. Shapiro said the former CEO could have testified that he relied on legal advice from lawyers in business matters, but the court did not allow that.
Shapiro also pointed out that the court prevented Bankman-Fried from providing evidence that FTX and the Alameda hedge fund were not insolvent. During the trial, prosecutors argued that both companies were insolvent, which Shapiro said was incorrect.
“The government has echoed the claims of FTX’s asset managers, who have a vested interest in blaming Bankman-Fried for customer losses, rather than admitting their mismanagement,” Shapiro explained.
Prosecutors also alleged that Bankman-Fried spent billions of dollars on luxury apartments and political contributions, and that the money was missing. However, Bankman-Fried’s attorney countered: “That money is not gone, and investments like Anthropic and Solana were sound decisions. However, these investments cannot be immediately converted into cash to address the withdrawal crisis in November 2022. FTX faced a liquidation crisis, not an insolvency crisis.”
Shapiro also accused Judge Kaplan of being unfair to Bankman-Fried throughout the trial, saying the judge was biased and helped the prosecution. Shapiro also said the judge “pushed” the jury to reach a verdict in just one evening, by offering free dinner and car service.
With these arguments, Bankman-Fried's legal team hopes to convince the appeals court to hold a new trial with a different judge to render a more equitable ruling.
The article Sam Bankman-Fried Files Appeal and Requests New Trial appeared first on Coin79 - Coin News Update and Crypto Investment Knowledge .
