Agencies
Lawyers of one-time crytpo mogul Sam Bankman-Fried claim in an appeal filed Friday that the imprisoned FTX founder was the victim of a rush to judgment by a public that wrongly believed he was guilty of stealing billions of dollars from his customers and investors before he was even arrested.
The lawyers filed papers with the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals asking a three-judge panel to reverse his conviction and assign the case to a new judge for a retrial, saying the trial judge “imposed a draconian quarter-century sentence on this first-time, non-violent offender” after they contend he hurried the jury into reaching a one-day verdict to cap off a complex four-week trial.
“Sam Bankman-Fried was never presumed innocent. He was presumed guilty – before he was even charged.
He was presumed guilty by the media. He was presumed guilty by the FTX debtor estate and its lawyers.
He was presumed guilty by federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines. And he was presumed guilty by the judge who presided over his trial,” the lawyers wrote.
They said the passing of time has cast Bankman-Fried in a better light.
“From day one, the prevailing narrativeinitially 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 attorney said.
“Now, nearly two years later, a very different picture is emerging – one confirming FTX was never insolvent and, in fact, had assets worth billions to repay its customers. But the jury at Bankman-Fried’s trial never got to see that picture,” they added.
Bankman-Fried, 32, was convicted last November of fraud and conspiracy a year after his companies collapsed into bankruptcy as investors rushed to withdraw funds.
A jury concluded that some of their money had been improperly spent on real estate, investments, celebrity endorsements, political contributions and lavish lifestyles.
