Terrill Dicki
Apr 29, 2026 00:29
Sam Bankman-Fried’s motion for a new trial was denied by Judge Kaplan, citing baseless claims. The former FTX CEO is serving a 25-year sentence.
A Manhattan federal judge has denied Sam Bankman-Fried’s motion for a new trial, calling the request baseless and an apparent strategy to salvage his reputation. Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX, is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for fraud and money laundering charges.
Judge Lewis Kaplan, who presided over Bankman-Fried’s original trial in late 2023, issued the ruling on April 28, 2026. He dismissed claims of newly discovered evidence involving three former FTX executives—Ryan Salame, Daniel Chapsky, and Nishad Singh—stating that the defense already knew about these witnesses before the trial. Kaplan further criticized the motion as “wildly conspiratorial” and unsupported by the record.
The request for a new trial had been unusual from the start. Bankman-Fried filed it in February 2026 without consulting his legal team, even as his appeal against his conviction and sentence remained pending. He later attempted to withdraw the motion after accusing Judge Kaplan of bias, a request the judge also denied.
Bankman-Fried’s legal troubles stem from the November 2022 collapse of FTX, once one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges. The platform crumbled after revelations that billions of dollars in customer funds were secretly transferred to Alameda Research, a trading firm also founded by Bankman-Fried. The resulting liquidity crisis triggered a run on withdrawals that FTX could not fulfill, leading to its bankruptcy and the loss of billions in user deposits.
In November 2023, a jury convicted Bankman-Fried on all seven charges against him, including wire fraud and conspiracy to commit securities fraud. He was sentenced the following March to 25 years in prison and ordered to forfeit $11 billion. Efforts to recover assets for FTX creditors remain ongoing, with a U.S. court ruling in August 2024 that the exchange must pay $12.7 billion to compensate customers and victims.
The FTT token, once the cornerstone of FTX’s ecosystem, has become a shadow of its former self. As of April 29, 2026, FTT is trading at just $0.29, a far cry from its peak above $80 in 2021. The token’s market cap now stands at $95.5 million, reflecting its diminished status and the broader fallout from FTX’s collapse.
Bankman-Fried’s failed motion for a new trial is unlikely to alter his trajectory, but it underscores the lingering controversies surrounding his case. FTX’s implosion remains a cautionary tale for the crypto industry, highlighting the risks of opaque financial practices and poor corporate governance.
For creditors and former users, the focus now shifts to ongoing bankruptcy proceedings. Any recovery of funds depends on the liquidation of remaining FTX assets, including the potential sale of the estate’s FTT holdings, though their value offers limited relief at current prices.
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