FTX
founder
Sam
Bankman-Fried
has
formally
appealed
his
fraud
conviction,
requesting
a
new
trial
and
accusing
the
judge
overseeing
his
case
of
being
unfairly
biased
against
him.
Last
November,
a
New
York
jury
convicted
Bankman-Fried
of
seven
counts
of
fraud
and
conspiracy
tied
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
prison
for
his
crimes.
In
the
102-page
appeal
filed
Friday
afternoon
in
the
Second
Circuit
Court
of
Appeals,
Bankman-Fried’s
lawyers
argued
Judge
Kaplan
was
unfair
to
the
FTX
founder
throughout
the
trial,
making
“biting
comments
undermining
the
defense”
and
“deriding”
his
testimony
in
front
of
the
jury.
“Sam
Bankman-Fried
was
never
presumed
innocent,”
his
lawyer,
Alexandra
Shapiro
wrote
in
the
filing.
“He
was
presumed
guilty
by
the
judge
who
presided
over
his
trial.”
Shapiro
took
over
from
Bankman-Fried’s
trial
lawyers,
Mark
Cohen
and
Christian
Everdell,
after
his
conviction.
The
filing
emphasized
this
point
throughout,
pointing
to
the
judge’s
blocking
of
certain
defense
arguments,
testimony
about
Bankman-Fried’s
well-performing
investments
(such
as
Anthropic),
pieces
of
evidence
Bankman-Fried’s
lawyers
also
charged
procedural
violations,
saying
the
judge
ordered
an
“unlawful”
forfeiture
and
“Bankman-Fried
was
erroneously
deprived
of
Brady
material”
–
evidence
that
would
have
favored
the
defense
which,
if
deliberately
withheld,
could
result
in
the
case
being
thrown
out.
The
32-year-old
Bankman-Fried’s
trial
lawyers
had
suggested
a
lighter
sentence
of
6.5
years.
The
government
had
sought
a
much
heftier
40-50
years
in
prison.
Several
of
Bankman-Fried’s
closest
friends
and
colleagues
–
including
his
ex-girlfriend
Caroline
Ellison,
Nishad
Singh,
Gary
Wang,
and
Ryan
Salame
–
testified
against
him
during
his
trial,
and
pleaded
guilty
to
their
own
counts
of
fraud.
Salame
was
sentenced
to
7.5
years
in
prison
in
May.
Ellison
is
set
to
be
sentenced
later
this
month,
and
has
asked
for
no
jail
time.
Bankman-Fried’s
defense,
as
well
as
his
supposed
grounds
for
appeal,
have
heavily
rested
on
the
customer
recovery
achieved
by
the
FTX
estate.
Bankman-Fried
has
insisted
that
the
collapsed
exchange
was
never
actually
insolvent,
and
claimed
that
he
was
pushed
to
file
for
bankruptcy
prematurely
by
the
estate
team,
including
turnaround
CEO
John
J.
Ray
III
and
white-shoe
law
firm
Sullivan
&
Cromwell.
In
his
appeal,
Bankman-Fried’s
attorney
criticized
a
ruling
from
Judge
Kaplan
that
blocked
Bankman-Fried
from
claiming
to
the
jury
that
FTX
customers
had
not
actually
lost
money,
because
they
were
expected
to
get
it
back
in
the
bankruptcy
process.
“The
government
thus
presented
a
false
narrative
that
FTX’s
customers,
lenders,
and
investors
had
permanently
lost
their
money,”
Bankman-Fried’s
lawyer
wrote.
“The
jury
was
only
allowed
to
see
half
the
picture.”
The
defense
team
also
alleged
the
DOJ
worked
with
the
bankruptcy
estate
more
closely
than
was
allowed,
but
used
the
veneer
of
distance
to
block
Bankman-Fried
from
accessing
potential
Brady
materials.
“The
district
court
summarily
refused
to
order
discovery,
or
even
a
hearing
to
determine
whether
the
Debtors
and
their
counsel
were
an
‘arm
of
the
prosecution,'”
the
filing
said.
Nikhilesh
De
contributed
reporting.
UPDATE
(Sept.
13,
2024,
20:45
UTC):
Adds
additional
information
and
link
to
filing.