Sam Bankman-Fried says DOJ coerced witnesses, seeks retrial

Sam Bankman-Fried asserted in a post on X that the Department of Justice pressured witnesses and pushed them to alter testimony in his FTX criminal case. He is seeking a new trial and has asked U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan to step aside from ruling on his latest motions.

In the post, he wrote that “new evidence” shows the DOJ “threatened multiple witnesses into silence or encouraged them to change their testimony,” and he argued his conviction should be thrown out.

The assertions mirror recent defense filings that seek a retrial. His lawyers contend jurors were blocked from considering exculpatory material and that the court restricted defense witnesses. They maintain that evidence about FTX’s internal operations and the bankruptcy process was excluded, limiting the case they could present.

Bankman-Fried also urged Kaplan to recuse, accusing the judge of prejudging defendants and “stacking proceedings” against him. He referenced what he described as similar treatment of former FTX executive Ryan Salame and U.S. President Donald Trump. He did not publish documents supporting the witness-tampering claims, and the court has not ruled on either request.

Reaction on X was quick, with many users rejecting his premise and arguing that misusing customer assets constitutes fraud even if funds are later repaid. Others pointed to sworn testimony from former associates who implicated him at trial, and some questioned how he is able to post publicly from prison.

Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 on multiple counts of fraud and conspiracy tied to FTX’s collapse and is serving a federal prison sentence. His appeals and post-conviction motions remain active. The new allegations have not been tested in court.

As we reported earlier, President Donald Trump ruled out granting clemency to Sam Bankman-Fried. He addressed the subject while saying he would not use his pardon power for Sean “Diddy” Combs and listed other figures he does not plan to pardon, including Robert Menendez and Nicolas Maduro.

Bankman-Fried has appeared on conservative media in recent months. His parents, Barbara Fried and Joseph Bankman, have been meeting with lawyers and people in Trump’s orbit to seek a pardon.