Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has withdrawn his Rule 33 motion that sought a new trial in his criminal case.
Summary
- Bankman-Fried withdrew his Rule 33 motion but kept his appeal and reassignment request in court.
- He told Judge Kaplan he wrote the letter himself after consulting his parents and lawyers.
- The former FTX chief still challenges his conviction, sentence, and Kaplan’s role in future rulings.
The filing was made in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, where he told Judge Lewis Kaplan that he wanted to withdraw the request for now rather than continue pressing it at this stage.
Bankman-Fried said the motion was being withdrawn “without prejudice,” which means he may try again later. In the same filing, he said he may renew the request after the court rules on his direct appeal and on his separate request to have another judge handle the matter.
Filing responds to judge’s questions
The latest letter came after Judge Kaplan asked Bankman-Fried to explain whether lawyers had helped with his earlier pro se filing. That order followed concerns raised by prosecutors about how the earlier submission was prepared and whether it had actually been drafted by Bankman-Fried himself while in prison.
In his response, Bankman-Fried wrote, “I am the author of this letter, but did consult with my parents about it, since it concerns both of them.”
He also wrote that he had spent time answering the court’s questions instead of preparing a full response to prosecutors and said, “I do not believe I will get a fair hearing on this topic in front of you.”
Meanwhile, although the new trial request has been pulled, Bankman-Fried is still asking for a different judge to handle any future Rule 33 motion. Earlier this year, he argued that Kaplan had shown “extreme prejudice,” and that request for reassignment has not been withdrawn.
His direct appeal also remains active before the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The latest letter did not change that process, leaving his conviction challenge on a separate track from the withdrawn trial motion.
FTX case continues to shape the legal fight
Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year prison sentence after a jury convicted him in 2023 on seven fraud and conspiracy counts tied to the collapse of FTX. Prosecutors said he stole about $8 billion in customer funds, while his post-trial filings have continued to dispute key parts of that case.
In February, his motion for a new trial argued that later evidence and omitted testimony challenged the prosecution’s account of FTX’s finances. For now, that argument has been set aside, but the broader legal fight over his conviction and sentence is still moving through the courts.
