Sam Bankman-Fried, former CEO of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is seeking a new trial, according to a request filed by his mother in federal court in New York.
Since he was convicted and imprisoned with a 25-year sentence, SBF has been continually challenging his status in court. The latest motion for a new trial, first reported Tuesday by Inner City Press, was filed by his mother, Barbara Fried, alleging that new evidence in the case would justify a restart. The filing noted the initial absence of testimony from figures including FTX’s Ryan Salame, who fought his own separate legal battle.
Former FTX executive Salame was also convicted on federal charges, but claimed he made a deal to cooperate with prosecutors that should have protected his wife, Michelle Bond, from legal prosecution. She was later charged with allegedly receiving illegal campaign contributions in her congressional bid.
SBF’s 35-page document came to court as a pro se application, meaning the defendant is representing himself.
SBF’s previous efforts to argue that it did not get a fair initial trial, which came to a head in November, were met with some skepticism by appeals judges. SBF’s defense in seeking a new trial on appeal focused attention on FTX’s subsequent solvency, and its account on social media site X continues to argue that the company was not bankrupt when it collapsed. However, the judges held in November that solvency did not appear to be the main issue.
“Part of the government’s theory of the case is that the defendant misrepresented to investors that their money was safe, that it was not being used in the way the government claimed, and that the jury found that it was, in fact, used,” said Circuit Judge Maria Araújo Kahn, referring to the misappropriation of clients’ money at the center of his conviction.
Closing off another possible path to freedom, President Donald Trump recently said he would not consider a pardon for SBF. However, the former FTX CEO is still campaigning through his X account, arguing that he is a victim of former President Joe Biden’s “legal war machine.”
