Legal professionals for Sam Bankman-Fried declare in an enchantment filed Friday that the imprisoned FTX founder was the sufferer of a rush to judgment by a public that wrongly believed he was responsible of stealing billions of {dollars} from his clients and traders earlier than he was even arrested.
The attorneys filed papers with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals asking a three-judge panel to reverse his conviction and assign the case to a brand new decide for a retrial, saying the trial decide “imposed a draconian quarter-century sentence on this first-time, non-violent offender” after they contend he hurried the jury into reaching a one-day verdict to cap off a fancy four-week trial.
“Sam Bankman-Fried was by no means presumed harmless. He was presumed responsible — earlier than he was even charged. He was presumed responsible by the media. He was presumed responsible by the FTX debtor property and its attorneys. He was presumed responsible by federal prosecutors longing for fast headlines. And he was presumed responsible by the decide who presided over his trial,” the attorneys wrote.
They mentioned the passing of time has forged Bankman-Fried in a greater mild.
“From day one, the prevailing narrative — initially spun by the attorneys who took over FTX, rapidly adopted by their contacts on the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace — was that Bankman-Fried had stolen billions of {dollars} of buyer funds, pushed FTX to insolvency, and precipitated billions in losses,” the lawyer mentioned.
“Now, practically two years later, a really completely different image is rising — one confirming FTX was by no means bancrupt, and in reality had property value billions to repay its clients. However the jury at Bankman-Fried’s trial by no means acquired to see that image,” they added.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted final November of fraud and conspiracy a 12 months after his corporations collapsed into chapter 11 as traders rushed to withdraw funds. A jury concluded that a few of their cash had been improperly spent on actual property, investments, celeb endorsements, political contributions and lavish life.
At its peak, FTX was handled as a pioneer and darling within the rising cryptocurrency business, with a Tremendous Bowl commercial, testimony by Bankman-Fried earlier than Congress and endorsements from celebrities resembling quarterback Tom Brady and comic Larry David.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 following his extradition from the Bahamas, simply weeks after his firm filed for chapter and days after a few of his former high executives started cooperating with federal prosecutors. A few of them testified towards him at trial.
He initially remained below strict bail situations at his dad and mom’ residence in Palo Alto, California, however Decide Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan revoked his bail shortly earlier than the trial after concluding that Bankman-Fried was attempting to affect possible witnesses, together with an ex-girlfriend who had served as chief government at Alameda Analysis, a crypto hedge fund.
The fallen mogul is serving a 25-year sentence after he was sentenced in March in what a prosecutor as soon as described as one of many greatest monetary frauds in U.S. historical past.
A prosecutor’s spokesperson declined to remark Friday.
