Prosecutors Reject Bankman-Fried's New Trial Request, Citing Lack of Evidence

Prosecutors in the Sam Bankman-Fried case have urged a US court to reject his request for a new trial. The former FTX founder, currently serving a 25-year prison sentence, filed the motion himself from a federal prison in California without legal representation.

In the filing, prosecutors disputed Bankman-Fried's claims that witnesses were intimidated by prosecutors and that new evidence could have altered the jury's verdict. They argued that the individuals he referenced were already known to his legal team before the trial and that none of the cited evidence would have changed the outcome.

Prosecutors also rejected Bankman-Fried's repeated claim that FTX was solvent at the time of its collapse, citing accounting approaches that experts, restructuring professionals, and the jury had already rejected during the trial. They stated that the existence of other assets on FTX's balance sheet does not demonstrate that customer funds were available as customers believed.

Bankman-Fried has also argued that his prosecution was motivated by political retaliation due to his criticism of government policy toward the cryptocurrency industry. Prosecutors dismissed this claim, describing it as an effort to reshape public perception rather than a legitimate legal basis for reopening the case.