Overview
- Bankman-Fried, who filed the withdrawal letter Wednesday, pulled his Rule 33 request without prejudice and said he does not expect a fair hearing before Judge Lewis Kaplan.
- He told the court he drafted the motion himself in custody and shared drafts with his parents for editing and printing after prosecutors questioned whether lawyers had ghostwritten it and the judge ordered clarification.
- His direct appeal remains active at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and a separate bid to reassign future district-court matters away from Judge Kaplan is pending, which could place any renewed motion before a different judge.
- Rule 33 lets a convicted defendant ask for a new trial based on newly discovered evidence or in the interest of justice, and withdrawing without prejudice preserves the right to refile after the appeal and reassignment request are decided.
- Bankman-Fried is serving a 25-year sentence after a 2023 conviction on seven fraud and conspiracy counts tied to FTX’s collapse, with prosecutors saying about $8 billion in customer funds were misused.