Sam Bankman-Fried Appeals Fraud Conviction, Prosecutors ‘Eager for Quick Headlines’

Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of FTX, has filed a request for a new trial, claiming he was denied a fair hearing during his criminal conviction.

His legal team, in a brief filed with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday, argued that federal prosecutors were more focused on securing quick headlines than ensuring a just trial.

“He was presumed guilty by federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines,” reads the filing.

Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March following his conviction on seven counts of fraud and money laundering related to the collapse of FTX, a case that garnered global attention.

SBF’s Downfall Began in Late 2022

Bankman-Fried’s downfall began when FTX, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world, dramatically collapsed, leading to billions of dollars in customer losses.

Prosecutors argued that he orchestrated a massive fraud scheme, diverting funds from FTX customers to cover financial shortfalls in his hedge fund, Alameda Research.

The case became one of the most significant financial fraud cases in recent years, drawing comparisons to infamous scandals like Enron and Bernie Madoff.

In this latest court filing, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers argue that the narrative presented during the trial was inaccurate and incomplete.

“From day one, the prevailing narrative—initially spun by the lawyers who took over FTX, quickly adopted by their contacts at the U.S. Attorney’s Office—was that Bankman-Fried had stolen billions of dollars of customer funds, driven FTX to insolvency, and caused billions in losses,” said the filing.

It further claims that new evidence has surfaced showing that FTX was never insolvent, and that the company had assets worth billions to repay its customers. Bankman-Fried’s legal team asserts that the jury never saw this evidence.

Bankman-Fried’s legal team believes that this new information, combined with the rushed nature of the trial, demands reconsideration. They contend that their client was painted as the sole cause of FTX’s collapse when in reality, other factors were at play.

Former Lawyers S&C Flagged as Biased

The filing states that lawyers at John Ray and Sullivan & Cromwell “did an enormous amount of investigative work for the prosecution” and “By February 2023, it collected…over twenty-seven million documents” and “provided an analysis of several hundred thousand documents” to the government.”

“S&C—which billed hundreds of millions of dollars in this case—performed prosecutorial tasks that had nothing to do with bankruptcy.”

“Moreover, the Debtors and S&C were motivated to place all blame squarely on Bankman-Fried—to avoid scrutiny of their own business decisions, their own conflicts of interest, their own exorbitant billing, and their own misconduct,” states the filing.

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research who worked closely with Bankman-Fried, is seeking leniency in her sentencing for her involvement in the collapse of FTX. Her legal team has urged the court to forego prison time, advocating for a sentence of time served combined with supervised release.

In a sentencing memorandum submitted on Tuesday, Ellison’s lawyers said that the U.S. Probation Department has recommended time served with three years of supervised release due to her cooperation with authorities.