As was anticipated, on Friday, the second greatest Democrat donor and disgraced FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried formally appealed his conviction on what prosecutors described as ‘one of many greatest monetary frauds in American historical past’.
His authorized crew is arguing that the jury that convicted him of stealing billions of {dollars} from prospects of the FTX cryptocurrency trade solely noticed “half the image”.
That might have occurred as a result of the ‘unfair’ choose didn’t enable in important proof.
Within the transient filed with the 2nd US Circuit Courtroom of Appeals, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer wrote that US District Choose Lewis Kaplan was mistaken in stopping him from introducing proof that will have supported his argument that FTX had sufficient funds to cowl buyer withdrawals.
New York Submit reported:
“’The federal government thus offered a false narrative that FTX’s prospects, lenders, and buyers had completely misplaced their cash’, lawyer Alexandra Shapiro wrote in urging the appeals court docket to overturn Bankman-Fried’s conviction and 25-year jail sentence. ‘The jury was solely allowed to see half the image’.”
FTX has since stated that its prospects will obtain ‘100% restoration’ on their claims in opposition to the corporate, however that’s ‘based mostly on the worth of their accounts on the time it filed for chapter’.
The catch is: cryptocurrency costs have been decrease then than they’re now, thus leaving some prospects feeling short-changed.
“In legal fees introduced in December 2022, prosecutors accused Bankman-Fried of stealing $8 billion in buyer funds to plug losses at Alameda Analysis, his crypto-focused hedge fund.
At his late 2023 trial, Bankman-Fried admitted to creating errors working FTX however testified that he by no means stole funds.”
The New York jury convicted Bankman-Fried of seven counts of fraud and conspiracy, and U.S. District Choose Lewis Kaplan of the Southern District of New York (SDNY) sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in jail for his crimes.
Bankman-Fried is now requesting a brand new trial, accusing the choose overseeing his case of being unfairly biased in opposition to him.
CoinDesk reported:
“Bankman-Fried’s attorneys argued Choose Kaplan was unfair to the FTX founder all through the trial, making ‘biting feedback undermining the protection’ and ‘deriding’ his testimony in entrance of the jury.
‘Sam Bankman-Fried was by no means presumed harmless’, his lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro wrote within the submitting. ‘He was presumed responsible by the choose who presided over his trial’. Shapiro took over from Bankman-Fried’s trial attorneys, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, after his conviction.”
The enchantment submitting factors to the choose’s blocking of sure protection arguments, in addition to testimony about Bankman-Fried’s well-performing investments (corresponding to Anthropic).
Additionally they say he was ‘erroneously disadvantaged of Brady materials’ – exculpatory, if intentionally withheld, may lead to the case being thrown out.
“A number of of Bankman-Fried’s closest mates and colleagues – together with his ex-girlfriend Caroline Ellison, Nishad Singh, Gary Wang, and Ryan Salame – testified in opposition to him throughout his trial, and pleaded responsible to their very own counts of fraud. Salame was sentenced to 7.5 years in jail in Could. Ellison is ready to be sentenced later this month, and has requested for no jail time.”
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