NEW YORK — In an appeal filed Friday, Sam Bankman-Fried’s lawyers allege that the imprisoned FTX founder was the victim of a rush to judgment by the public, which incorrectly concluded he was guilty of stealing billions of dollars from his clients and investors before he was arrested.
The lawyers filed papers with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, requesting that a three-judge panel reverse his conviction and reassign the case to a new judge for a retrial, claiming that the trial judge “imposed a draconian quarter-century sentence on this first-time, non-violent offender” after rushing the jury to reach a one-day verdict to cap off a complex four-week trial.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Claim In An Appeal That He Was Judged Too Quickly
“Sam Bankman-Fried was not presumed innocent. He was assumed guilty before being accused. The media presumed him guilty. The FTX debtor estate and its counsel assumed him to be guilty. Federal prosecutors, seeking swift headlines, deemed him guilty. “And the judge who presided over his trial presumed him guilty,” the lawyers wrote.
They said that as time passed, Bankman-Fried’s reputation improved.
“From day one, the prevailing narrative — initially spun by the lawyers who took over FTX, quickly adopted by their contacts at the U.S. Attorney’s Office — was that Bankman-Fried had stolen billions of dollars of customer funds, driven FTX to insolvency, and caused billions in losses,” the spokesman said.
“Now, some two years later, a very different picture is emerging, revealing that FTX was never insolvent and had billions of dollars in assets to repay its clients. But the jury in Bankman-Fried’s trial never saw that image,” they noted.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted of fraud and conspiracy in November, a year after his companies filed for bankruptcy as investors rushed to withdraw funds. A jury determined that part of their funds had been fraudulently spent on real estate, investments, celebrity endorsements, political contributions, and luxurious lifestyles.
At its peak, FTX was seen as a pioneer and darling of the growing cryptocurrency sector, with a Super Bowl commercial, testimony by Bankman-Fried before Congress, and endorsements from celebrities such as quarterback Tom Brady and comedian Larry David.
Bankman-Fried was arrested in December 2022 after being extradited from the Bahamas, just weeks after his company declared bankruptcy and days after some of his former senior colleagues started cooperating with federal authorities. Some of them testified against him throughout the trial.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s Lawyers Claim In An Appeal That He Was Judged Too Quickly
He was initially held under strict bail conditions at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California, but Judge Lewis A. Kaplan in Manhattan revoked his bail shortly before the trial, concluding that Bankman-Fried was attempting to influence potential witnesses, including an ex-girlfriend who had served as CEO of Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund.
The former billionaire is receiving a 25-year term after being imprisoned in March in what a prosecutor had called as one of the largest financial crimes in US history.
The prosecutor’s spokeswoman declined to comment on Friday.
SOURCE | AP
