Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, was sentenced because of a “false story” told by federal prosecutors at a trial “tainted” by errors, his lawyers argued in a new lawsuit filed Friday with a federal appeals court.
“Fair trial principles were swept away in a tsunami of ‘Sentence First Judgment After’, as everyone rushed to judgment after FTX’s collapse, defense lawyers wrote in the appeal. “Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent. He was presumed guilty – before he was even charged.”
Bankman-Fried was found guilty of fraud, conspiracy and money laundering last November after federal prosecutors in New York charged him with orchestrating a scheme that collapsed the crypto exchange he founded, FTX, and stole $8 billion in client funds.
That’s him serving a 25-year sentencewhich his lawyers called “draconian”.
In Friday’s appeal, defense attorney Alexandra Shapiro attacked trial Judge Lewis Kaplan and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, accusing them of a lack of objectivity or impartiality.
“He was presumed guilty by the media. He was presumed guilty by the FTX estate and its lawyers. He was presumed guilty by federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines. And he was presumed guilty by the judge who presided over his trial,” he said. said the appeal.
FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried leaves Manhattan Federal Court on June 15, 2023 in New York.
Bebeto Matthews/AP, FILE
The U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment, but will file a written response.
The defense requested a reversal of Bankman-Fried’s conviction and a new trial before a different judge.
Former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s ex-girlfriend and a blockbuster witness for the prosecution, will be sentenced for her role in the fraud later this month.