US prosecutors moved Wednesday to block a retrial request from former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried. The filing reinforces the government’s position that the 2023 fraud conviction tied to the collapse of FTX was supported by overwhelming evidence.
Bankman-Fried is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence after a jury found him guilty of fraud and conspiracy. The retrial request, filed in February by his mother on his behalf, argued that two former FTX executives could have challenged prosecutors’ narrative if they had testified.
Those executives, Daniel Chapsky and Ryan Salame, allegedly declined to appear at trial due to concerns about retaliation, according to the defense motion. Prosecutors said the defense team knew about both witnesses before trial and chose not to call them.
Does Bankman-Fried Have Any Path To A New Trial?
Federal prosecutors argued the proposed testimony does not meet the legal threshold for newly discovered evidence. Court filings state that the defense’s earlier decision not to include the witnesses on its list eliminates grounds for reopening the case.
They also said the testimony would not have altered the outcome. According to the filing, trial evidence showed Bankman-Fried directed the transfer of billions of dollars in customer deposits from FTX to affiliated trading firm Alameda Research.
Prosecutors also disputed the defense claim that FTX remained solvent during its collapse. At one point, they wrote, the exchange held about 105 bitcoin against customer liabilities approaching 100,000 bitcoin, illustrating the scale of the shortfall.
“The motion’s most aggressive claim — that FTX was solvent and customers have since been made whole — is factually wrong and legally irrelevant,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
They added that fraud occurs when funds are misappropriated, regardless of later recovery efforts through bankruptcy.
Bankman-Fried has also argued the prosecution reflected political targeting by the Biden administration. Prosecutors rejected that claim, noting he was one of the largest Democratic donors during the 2020 and 2022 election cycles.
Attention now shifts to the federal judge overseeing the case, whose ruling on the retrial request could determine whether the legal battle surrounding the FTX collapse continues in court or moves entirely into the appeals phase.
