Ahead of his Tuesday appeal hearing, Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers have claimed that the FTX co-founder was unfairly convicted and was not allowed to tell his full story during his 2023 trial.
FTX Founder Claims Unfair Trial
On Tuesday, the legal team of FTX’s co-founder and former CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), is set to appeal his fraud conviction and 25-year sentence in a hearing at the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
According to a Bloomberg report, SBF’s lawyers have claimed in a previously filed brief that the crypto-exchange founder was wrongly convicted and was never given a fair chance to present his defense due to pressure from the media and prosecutors. “Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent,” his lawyers reportedly argued in the brief. “He was presumed guilty — before he was even charged.”
In November 2023, Bankman-Fried was found guilty of seven criminal counts, including fraud and conspiracy. He was later sentenced to 25 years in prison and ordered to pay back $11 billion to FTX customers.
His legal team, led by Alexandra Shapiro, is allegedly focusing on New York Judge Lewis Kaplan, whom they have accused of “repeatedly putting a thumb on the scale to help the government and thwart the defense.”
The former crypto executive’s lawyers argued in the appeal brief that the judge had “pressed jurors into a quick verdict,” and “continually ridiculed Bankman-Fried, criticized his demeanor, and signaled his disbelief of Bankman-Fried’s testimony.”
They highlighted an instance when Judge Kaplan allegedly called SBF’s testimony that he did not run FTX’s sister hedge fund, Alameda Research, after stepping down as CEO, “a joke.”
As a result, Shapiro is expected to argue that the New York judge “wrongly blocked Bankman-Fried from telling the jury that FTX had enough assets to repay exchange customers.” Meanwhile, prosecutors were allowed to claim SBF had stolen billions of dollars from customers, which “forced” FTX into bankruptcy.
Since the trial, the disgraced crypto exchange’s co-founder has maintained that the company was never insolvent. As reported by Bitcoinist, Bankman-Fried recently shared a document arguing that “the crisis FTX faced in November 2022 was a liquidity crisis, i.e., a sudden shortage of cash,” affirming that the company “was never bankrupt.”
His team is also expected to claim that Bankman-Fried didn’t intend to defraud customers, that prosecutors were given an unfair advantage, and that Judge Kaplan should have allowed him to testify that he had followed FTX lawyers “in good faith.”
New Trial Or Presidential Pardon?
Bankman-Fried’s appeal has requested a new trial with a different judge. Nonetheless, the former CEO has also been seeking a pardon from US President Donald Trump as part of his attempts for an early release.
After January’s pardon of Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, SBF’s parents have reportedly been exploring paths to secure a presidential pardon for their son. In a February interview, he slammed the Biden Administration, arguing that his conviction was part of the previous government’s crackdown on the industry. He also shared his hope that President Trump would grant him a pardon.
Notably, on October 23, the White House announced that Trump had pardoned Binance co-founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao, two years after pleading guilty. The White House’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, affirmed that the US President had “exercised his constitutional authority by issuing a pardon for Mr. Zhao, who was prosecuted by the Biden Administration in their war on cryptocurrency.”
Since then, speculation about a potential pardon to Bankman-Fried has increased, with the odds on betting markets such as Polymarket spiking to 15% after Zhao’s pardon. However, many industry players believe that the real chances of a pardon are low.
Lawyer and CLO at Variant, Jake Chervinsky, previously affirmed that he would be “truly shocked if SBF gets a pardon,” as SBF and CZ are “not comparable at all.” Chervinsky noted that “SBF was a Democratic mega-donor before FTX collapsed and he went to prison bankrupt. His name is half punch line half curse word in DC. Not a single serious person wants this.”
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