Bloomberg reported Thursday that US prosecutors urged a federal decide to reject Sam Bankman-Fried’s request for a brand new legal trial, arguing that the previous FTX chief failed to satisfy the authorized commonplace for a retrial.
Based on the report citing court docket paperwork, prosecutors mentioned Bankman-Fried’s declare that new witnesses might undermine the federal government’s case doesn’t meet the authorized commonplace required to grant a retrial.
Prosecutors reportedly argued that testimony cited by Bankman-Fried from former FTX executives Ryan Salame and Daniel Chapsky didn’t quantity to newly found proof as a result of each males have been recognized to the protection earlier than the 2023 trial.
The prosecutors’ response marks the newest procedural step in Bankman-Fried’s effort to overturn his conviction tied to the collapse of FTX, the crypto alternate whose failure triggered one of many business’s largest scandals.
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Court docket has but to rule on retrial request
Bankman-Fried filed the movement for a brand new trial in February, arguing that testimony from former executives might problem the prosecution’s account of FTX’s monetary situation earlier than its collapse.
The protection argued that testimony from Salame and Chapsky might weaken the federal government’s narrative offered to jurors in the course of the trial. Choose Kaplan later ordered prosecutors to answer the movement by March 11.
The decide has not but dominated on whether or not the movement will proceed. Bankman-Fried individually continues to enchantment his conviction within the US Court docket of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
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A jury convicted Bankman-Fried in November 2023 on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy associated to the misuse of buyer funds at FTX and its sister buying and selling agency, Alameda Analysis. He was later sentenced to 25 years in jail.
Pardon hypothesis runs alongside court docket challenges
Bankman-Fried’s court docket efforts have unfolded alongside public hypothesis that he could also be in search of a presidential pardon.
On Feb. 1, the previous FTX CEO praised US President Donald Trump’s crypto stance in social media posts, including to scrutiny over whether or not he was making an attempt to construct political help whereas pursuing authorized reduction.
That hypothesis has to date gone nowhere publicly. On Jan. 9, Trump reportedly instructed The New York Instances he had no intention of pardoning Bankman-Fried, leaving an enchantment and retrial movement as his fundamental avenues for overturning his conviction.
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