TLDR
- Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a new trial this week
- The judge characterized the motion as an attempt to “rescue his reputation” with “baseless” assertions
- Bankman-Fried claimed three ex-FTX officials could demonstrate the platform’s solvency
- Kaplan noted the defendant had access to these witnesses during the original trial but didn’t call them
- His appeal challenging the conviction and 25-year prison term remains under review
The disgraced founder of the defunct cryptocurrency platform FTX, Sam Bankman-Fried, has been denied a second chance at trial by a federal court.
A federal judge rejected FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s do-it-yourself motion for a new trial based on what the former crypto king claimed was new evidence https://t.co/Yke9vgqa37
— Bloomberg (@business) April 28, 2026
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court, who oversaw the 2023 criminal proceedings and imposed a 25-year sentence on Bankman-Fried in early 2024, issued the denial on Tuesday through the Southern District of New York.
Judge Kaplan didn’t mince words in his ruling. He described the filing as appearing to be “one part of a plan to rescue his reputation” that Bankman-Fried had orchestrated following FTX’s bankruptcy filing but prior to his criminal indictment.
This past February, Bankman-Fried submitted the motion independently, bypassing his legal counsel. He simultaneously requested Kaplan’s recusal from the matter, which was also rejected.
Just last week, Bankman-Fried attempted to retract the motion completely. He informed the court he didn’t believe he could receive “a fair hearing” under Kaplan’s oversight. That petition was similarly dismissed.
The New Evidence Claims
Bankman-Fried contended that testimony from three previous FTX executives would have established the exchange’s solvency. He specifically identified Ryan Salame, who headed FTX’s Bahamas operations, and Daniel Chapsky, the platform’s former data science director.
Additionally, he referenced Nishad Singh, who served as FTX’s engineering chief, alleging that Singh modified his testimony “following threats from the government.”
Judge Kaplan systematically dismissed each contention. He emphasized that none of these individuals qualified as “newly discovered” witnesses — Bankman-Fried had knowledge of all three prior to trial and understood what testimony they might offer.
“He could have obtained or at least sought to compel their testimony,” Judge Kaplan stated in his order. “But he did neither.”
The court characterized the allegation of government intimidation of witnesses as “wildly conspiratorial and entirely contradicted by the record.”
Background on the Case
Salame entered a guilty plea to charges involving campaign finance violations and running an unauthorized money-transmitting operation. He received a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence in May 2024.
Singh negotiated a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors that spared him incarceration and provided testimony against Bankman-Fried during the initial trial.
In November 2023, Bankman-Fried was found guilty on all seven criminal counts related to fraud and money laundering. Federal prosecutors characterized the scheme as “likely the largest fraud in the last decade,” with parallels drawn to the Bernie Madoff scandal.
The jury determined he unlawfully transferred billions in FTX customer deposits to his hedge fund Alameda Research for speculative investments, ultimately leading to FTX’s implosion.
Judge Kaplan also addressed Bankman-Fried’s public relations efforts, referencing his conversations with writer Michael Lewis and political commentator Tucker Carlson. He observed that the purportedly novel facts “have been seen before. Many times.”
Bankman-Fried has requested a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. The president has indicated he has no intention of issuing one.
Bankman-Fried is presently incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in Lompoc, California. His appeal contesting both the guilty verdict and his sentence is still under consideration.
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