Imprisoned FTX co-founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has appealed to overturn his fraud conviction, court docket paperwork filed Friday present.
The attraction from Bankman-Fried’s legal professionals argues that he by no means received a good trial and will subsequently be tried once more beneath a brand new decide.
“He was presumed responsible—earlier than he was even charged,” legal professionals for Bankman-Fried wrote.
“He was presumed responsible by the media,” the submitting continues. “He was presumed responsible by the FTX debtor property and its legal professionals. He was presumed responsible by federal prosecutors looking forward to fast headlines. And he was presumed responsible by the decide who presided over his trial.”
The legal professionals—Alexandra A.E. Sapiro, Theodore Sampsell-Jones, and Jason A. Driscoll—argued that FTX was by no means bancrupt and if truth be told had the billions of {dollars} to repay prospects, regardless of the liquidity crunch that doomed the platform.
Authorized advisors for FTX took over when market circumstances shook the change (and the total crypto business) and pushed it into chapter 11 proceedings, mismanaging it and shedding cash within the course of, Bankman-Fried’s protection workforce additional claimed.
The doc contends that Bankman-Fried was by no means in a position to current his facet of the story—that he truly did have the cash to pay again prospects, however with illiquid investments.
“Bankman-Fried had not misplaced or stolen all the cash, and the investments he made weren’t dangerous or silly,” the legal professionals added. “FTX confronted a liquidity disaster, not a solvency disaster.”
FTX was an enormous crypto change that all of the sudden collapsed in November 2022, with the preliminary liquidity crunch giving solution to proof of significant fraud and mismanagement. Bankman-Fried was arrested shortly after, and following a trial, was convicted of fraud final November. He’ll serve 25 years behind bars.
Bankman-Fried and his workforce criminally mismanaged the corporate. FTX’s most important product was a well-liked crypto change that allowed prospects to purchase, promote, and wager on the long run costs of digital property. However money deposited by prospects was illegally utilized by Bankman-Fried and associates to make dangerous bets through sister funding agency Alameda Analysis, resulting in a fast collapse.
Editor’s be aware: This story was up to date after publication with extra particulars.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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