Key Points
- U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a retrial this Tuesday
- The judge characterized the motion as an attempt to rehabilitate the defendant’s public image
- Bankman-Fried claimed three ex-FTX officials could testify that the platform remained financially viable
- Kaplan noted the defendant had access to these witnesses during the original proceedings but declined to call them
- The FTX founder’s appeal of his fraud conviction and quarter-century prison term remains active
A federal judge has turned down Sam Bankman-Fried’s attempt to secure a new trial following his conviction for orchestrating one of the most significant financial frauds in recent history.
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 for the Southern District of New York, who oversaw the 2023 criminal proceedings and imposed a 25-year prison sentence on the disgraced crypto entrepreneur in early 2024, issued the denial order on Tuesday.
In his ruling, Kaplan delivered a sharp rebuke, stating that the motion seemed to represent “one part of a plan to rescue his reputation” that the FTX founder had formulated following the exchange’s bankruptcy filing but prior to his criminal indictment.
Bankman-Fried submitted the motion in February without involving his legal counsel. Simultaneously, he requested Kaplan’s recusal from the matter, which the court also rejected.
In the days leading up to the ruling, Bankman-Fried attempted to retract his motion completely. He indicated to the court that he doubted receiving “a fair hearing” under Kaplan’s oversight. That withdrawal request was similarly denied.
Examining the Alleged New Evidence
The convicted entrepreneur contended that three individuals formerly employed by FTX could have offered testimony demonstrating the platform’s solvency. Specifically, he identified Ryan Salame, who served as CEO of FTX’s Bahamas operation, and Daniel Chapsky, the exchange’s former data science director.
Additionally, Bankman-Fried referenced Nishad Singh, who headed FTX’s engineering division, alleging that Singh modified his court testimony “following threats from the government.”
Judge Kaplan systematically dismantled each assertion. He emphasized that none of these individuals qualified as “newly discovered” witnesses — the defendant had personal and professional relationships with all three prior to trial and understood what testimony they might potentially offer.
“He could have obtained or at least sought to compel their testimony,” the judge stated in his order. “But he did neither.”
Kaplan further characterized the allegation of government witness intimidation as “wildly conspiratorial and entirely contradicted by the record.”
Context and Criminal Proceedings
Ryan Salame entered a guilty plea to charges involving campaign finance violations and running an unlicensed money transmission operation. He received a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence in May of last year.
Nishad Singh negotiated a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors, avoiding incarceration in exchange for providing testimony against Bankman-Fried during the original trial.
In November 2023, a jury convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven criminal charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, and money laundering. Federal prosecutors characterized the scheme as “likely the largest fraud in the last decade,” invoking comparisons to the infamous Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
The evidence presented at trial demonstrated that he illegally diverted billions in FTX customer deposits to Alameda Research, his proprietary trading company, where the funds were used for high-risk investments that ultimately contributed to the platform’s spectacular implosion.
Judge Kaplan also referenced Bankman-Fried’s extensive public relations efforts, including sit-down interviews with author Michael Lewis and political commentator Tucker Carlson. The judge observed that the purportedly new information “have been seen before. Many times.”
The former billionaire has publicly sought clemency from President Donald Trump. However, Trump has indicated he has no intention of issuing a pardon.
Bankman-Fried is presently incarcerated at a federal correctional facility in Lompoc, California. His legal team’s appeal challenging both the conviction and the 25-year sentence continues to work its way through the appellate courts.
