U.S. Judge Denies SBF's Motion for New Trial, Calling Their Request "Highly Conspiratorial"

BlockBeats News, April 29th - District Judge Lewis Kaplan in the United States rejected former FTX CEO SBF's request for a retrial and harshly criticized his so-called new evidence as baseless and "highly conspiratorial." In a court order issued on Tuesday, the judge pointed out that SBF's claims that FTX actually had solvency, the Department of Justice withheld information, and witnesses were afraid to testify due to government threats were completely contradictory to the record. SBF had originally accused former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame and former Head of Data Science Daniel Chapsky of not appearing in court out of fear, but the judge emphasized that SBF could have subpoenaed or compelled them to testify but took no action.

SBF was convicted by a New York jury in November 2023 on seven counts of fraud, and subsequently sentenced to 25 years in prison. Last week, he voluntarily withdrew his motion for a new trial, citing an inability to obtain a "fair hearing" from Judge Kaplan, but the appeal is still ongoing. The judge also criticized SBF for attempting to shape public opinion through interviews, pointing out that the so-called new facts had been raised multiple times before. SBF had sought a pardon from Trump, but Trump has made it clear that he has no such plans.