Sam Bankman-Fried withdraws new-trial motion, still seeks new judge

Sam Bankman-Fried filed a notice on Wednesday withdrawing his Rule 33 motion for a new trial in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, while reserving the right to renew the motion after his direct appeal and a pending request to reassign the case are decided.

Judge Lewis Kaplan had ordered Bankman-Fried to explain whether lawyers helped prepare pro se filings after prosecutors questioned whether an extension to file the motion was submitted by the defendant himself. Prosecutors pointed to a separate letter from Bankman-Fried’s mother, Barbara Fried, which the court said lacked standing and raised questions about who prepared the filings.

In a public filing, Bankman-Fried wrote, “I am the author of this letter, but did consult with my parents about it, since it concerns both of them,” referring to the extension request.

He also wrote that he would withdraw the Rule 33 motion “without prejudice to renewing it after my direct appeal and the related request for reassignment have been ruled upon.” The filing said responding to the court’s questions left him little time to answer the prosecution’s opposition and that he did not expect a fair hearing on the issue before Judge Kaplan.

Bankman-Fried had asked in February that a different judge decide the new-trial motion, accusing Kaplan of “extreme prejudice.” That reassignment request remains pending.

His direct appeal of the 2023 conviction and 25-year sentence is under review by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. The withdrawal of the Rule 33 motion does not affect the pending appeal.

Bankman-Fried was convicted on fraud and related charges for misusing customer funds at the FTX cryptocurrency exchange. He is serving his sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution Lompoc I in California.

The new-trial motion had alleged that the Justice Department pressured witnesses into silence or into changing their testimony during the trial.

Since his conviction, Bankman-Fried has said he plans to seek a presidential pardon and has posted in support of President Donald Trump’s cryptocurrency policies. President Trump ruled out pardon for him.

The court filing was entered on the public docket. The withdrawal leaves open whether a different judge will later consider a renewed motion while the appeals process proceeds.