Key Takeaways
- Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Sam Bankman-Fried’s bid for a retrial this Tuesday
- The judge characterized the motion as an attempt to rehabilitate SBF’s public image
- Bankman-Fried claimed three ex-FTX executives could demonstrate the exchange’s solvency
- Kaplan noted that SBF had the opportunity to call these witnesses during his original trial
- The disgraced crypto mogul’s appeal of his conviction and quarter-century prison term continues
The disgraced cryptocurrency entrepreneur Sam Bankman-Fried has seen his attempt to secure a new trial firmly dismissed by a federal judge.
A federal judge rejected FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried’s do-it-yourself motion for a new trial based on what the former crypto king claimed was new evidence https://t.co/Yke9vgqa37
— Bloomberg (@business) April 28, 2026
Judge Lewis Kaplan of the U.S. District Court, who oversaw Bankman-Fried’s initial trial in 2023 and handed down a 25-year prison sentence in early 2024, issued his ruling on Tuesday through the Southern District of New York.
In his decision, Kaplan didn’t mince words. The judge characterized the filing as appearing to be “one part of a plan to rescue his reputation” — a strategy Bankman-Fried allegedly conceived following FTX’s bankruptcy filing but prior to his criminal indictment.
This past February, Bankman-Fried submitted the motion independently, bypassing his legal counsel. He simultaneously requested Kaplan’s recusal from the proceedings, which the judge also rejected.
Just last week, Bankman-Fried attempted to pull the motion altogether. He informed the court that he doubted he could receive “a fair hearing” under Kaplan’s oversight. That withdrawal request was similarly denied.
SBF’s Purported New Evidence
The FTX founder contended that testimony from three former executives could have demonstrated the cryptocurrency platform’s solvency. Among those named were Ryan Salame, who previously ran FTX’s operations in the Bahamas, and Daniel Chapsky, the exchange’s former data science chief.
Additionally, he referenced Nishad Singh, FTX’s onetime head of engineering, alleging that Singh modified his courtroom testimony “following threats from the government.”
Judge Kaplan systematically dismantled each assertion. He emphasized that these individuals couldn’t be classified as “newly discovered” witnesses — Bankman-Fried had known all three well before his trial and understood what testimony he expected from them.
“He could have obtained or at least sought to compel their testimony,” Judge Kaplan stated in his order. “But he did neither.”
The judge further characterized allegations of government witness intimidation as “wildly conspiratorial and entirely contradicted by the record.”
Context and Prior Developments
Ryan Salame entered a guilty plea to charges including campaign finance violations and running an unlicensed money transmission operation. He received a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence in May 2024.
Nishad Singh negotiated a cooperation agreement with federal prosecutors that allowed him to avoid incarceration, and he provided testimony against Bankman-Fried during the original criminal proceedings.
A jury found Bankman-Fried guilty on all seven criminal counts in November 2023, including fraud and money laundering charges. Federal prosecutors characterized the scheme as “likely the largest fraud in the last decade,” drawing parallels to the notorious Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme.
Evidence presented at trial showed that Bankman-Fried unlawfully transferred billions in customer deposits from FTX to his hedge fund, Alameda Research, where the funds were used for high-risk investments that ultimately played a key role in the exchange’s implosion.
Judge Kaplan also criticized Bankman-Fried’s extensive media outreach, referencing his conversations with author Michael Lewis and political commentator Tucker Carlson. The judge noted that these supposedly novel facts “have been seen before. Many times.”
Bankman-Fried has publicly sought a presidential pardon from Donald Trump. However, Trump has indicated he has no intention of granting clemency.
The former crypto billionaire is currently serving his sentence at a federal correctional facility in Lompoc, California. His legal team’s appeal of both the conviction and the 25-year sentence is still working its way through the courts.
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