FTX creator Sam Bankman-Fried has actually officially appealed his scams conviction, asking for a brand-new trial and implicating the judge supervising his case of being unjustly prejudiced versus him.
Last November, a New York jury founded guilty Bankman-Fried of 7 counts of scams and conspiracy connected to the collapse of his crypto exchange in November 2022. In March, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in jail for his criminal offenses.
In the 102-page appeal submitted Friday afternoon in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, Bankman-Fried’s attorneys argued Judge Kaplan was unjust to the FTX creator throughout the trial, making “biting remarks weakening the defense” and “deriding” his testament in front of the jury.
“Sam Bankman-Fried was never ever presumed innocent,” his attorney, Alexandra Shapiro composed in the filing. “He was presumed guilty by the judge who commanded his trial.” Shapiro took over from Bankman-Fried’s trial attorneys, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, after his conviction.
The filing highlighted this point throughout, indicating the judge’s stopping of specific defense arguments, consisting of testament about Bankman-Fried’s well-performing financial investments (such as Anthropic).
Bankman-Fried’s legal representatives likewise charged procedural offenses, stating the judge purchased an “illegal” forfeit and “Bankman-Fried was incorrectly denied of Brady product”– proof that would have preferred the defense which, if intentionally kept, might lead to the case being tossed out.
The 32-year-old Bankman-Fried’s trial attorneys had actually recommended a lighter sentence of 6.5 years. The federal government had actually looked for a much heftier 40-50 years in jail.
Numerous of Bankman-Fried’s closest buddies and associates– including his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, and Ryan Salame– affirmed versus him throughout his trial, and pleaded guilty to their own counts of scams. Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in jail in May. Ellison is set to be sentenced later on this month, and has actually requested for no prison time.
Bankman-Fried’s defense, along with his expected premises for appeal, have actually greatly rested on the consumer healing accomplished by the FTX estate. Bankman-Fried has actually firmly insisted that the collapsed exchange was never ever in fact insolvent, and declared that he was pressed to declare insolvency too soon by the estate group, consisting of turn-around CEO John J. Ray III and white-shoe law office Sullivan & & Cromwell.
In his appeal, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer slammed a judgment from Judge Kaplan that obstructed Bankman-Fried from declaring to the jury that FTX consumers had actually not really lost cash, since they were anticipated to get it back in the personal bankruptcy procedure.
“The federal government therefore provided an incorrect story that FTX’s clients, loan providers, and financiers had actually completely lost their cash,” Bankman-Fried’s legal representative composed. “The jury was just enabled to see half the image.”
The defense group likewise declared the DOJ dealt with the insolvency estate more carefully than was permitted, however utilized the veneer of range to obstruct Bankman-Fried from accessing possible Brady products.
“The district court summarily declined to buy discovery,
