New Sam Bankman-Fried Trial Would Be Huge Waste of Court's Time, Judge Says (arstechnica.com) 31
A federal judge denied Sam Bankman-Fried's request for a new trial, calling his claims of DOJ witness intimidation "wildly conspiratorial" and unsupported by the record. Judge Lewis Kaplan said (PDF) the FTX founder's motion appeared tied to a pre-indictment plan to recast himself as a Republican victim of Biden's DOJ in hopes of gaining sympathy, leniency, or even a Trump pardon. Ars Technica reports: Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 for "masterminding one of the largest financial frauds in American history," US District Judge Lewis Kaplan wrote in his order. He was convicted on all charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, commodities fraud, and money laundering. There is already an appeal pending in another court, the judge noted. But Bankman-Fried filed a separate motion for a new trial, claiming that there were "newly discovered" witnesses and evidence that might have helped his defense, if Joe Biden's Department of Justice hadn't intimidated them into refusing to testify or, in one case, lying on the stand.
He also asked for a new judge, wanting Kaplan to recuse himself. However, Kaplan pointed out that "none of the witnesses" were "newly discovered." And more concerningly, Bankman-Fried offered no evidence that the witnesses could prove the "wildly conspiratorial" theory the FTX founder raised, claiming that their absence at the trial was a "product of government threats and retaliation," the judge wrote. Bankman-Fried's theory is "entirely contradicted by the record," Kaplan said. He emphasized that granting Bankman-Fried's request "would be a large waste of judicial resources as it could require another judge to familiarize himself or herself with an extensive and complicated record."
Additionally, all three witnesses that Bankman-Fried claimed could give crucial testimony in his defense were known to him throughout the trial, and he never sought to compel their testimony. And the "self-serving social-media posts" of one witness who now claims that he lied when testifying against Bankman-Fried -- "Ryan Salame, who pleaded guilty" -- must be met with "utmost suspicion," Kaplan said. "If one were to take Salame at his current word, he lied under oath when pleading guilty before this Court," Kaplan wrote. Even if taken seriously, "his out-of-court, unsworn statements could not come anywhere close to clearing the bar to warrant a new trial," Kaplan said, deeming Salame's credibility "highly questionable." Further, "even if these individuals had testified for Bankman-Fried, his protestations that one or more of them would have supported his claims that FTX was not insolvent and that his victims all were compensated fully in the bankruptcy proceedings are inaccurate or misleading," Kaplan concluded.
In the order, Kaplan's frustration seems palpable, as there may have been no need for him to rule on the motion at all after Bankman-Fried requested to withdraw it. But the judge said the ruling was needed after Bankman-Fried waited to file his withdrawal request until after the DOJ and the court wasted time responding and reviewing filings, the judge said. Troublingly, Bankman-Fried's request to withdraw his request without prejudice would have allowed him to potentially request a new trial after the appeal ended. Based on the substance of the filing, that risked wasting future court resources, Kaplan determined. To prevent overburdening the justice system, Kaplan deemed it necessary to deny Bankman-Fried's motion and request for recusal, rather than allow him to withdraw the filing without prejudice.
He also asked for a new judge, wanting Kaplan to recuse himself. However, Kaplan pointed out that "none of the witnesses" were "newly discovered." And more concerningly, Bankman-Fried offered no evidence that the witnesses could prove the "wildly conspiratorial" theory the FTX founder raised, claiming that their absence at the trial was a "product of government threats and retaliation," the judge wrote. Bankman-Fried's theory is "entirely contradicted by the record," Kaplan said. He emphasized that granting Bankman-Fried's request "would be a large waste of judicial resources as it could require another judge to familiarize himself or herself with an extensive and complicated record."
Additionally, all three witnesses that Bankman-Fried claimed could give crucial testimony in his defense were known to him throughout the trial, and he never sought to compel their testimony. And the "self-serving social-media posts" of one witness who now claims that he lied when testifying against Bankman-Fried -- "Ryan Salame, who pleaded guilty" -- must be met with "utmost suspicion," Kaplan said. "If one were to take Salame at his current word, he lied under oath when pleading guilty before this Court," Kaplan wrote. Even if taken seriously, "his out-of-court, unsworn statements could not come anywhere close to clearing the bar to warrant a new trial," Kaplan said, deeming Salame's credibility "highly questionable." Further, "even if these individuals had testified for Bankman-Fried, his protestations that one or more of them would have supported his claims that FTX was not insolvent and that his victims all were compensated fully in the bankruptcy proceedings are inaccurate or misleading," Kaplan concluded.
In the order, Kaplan's frustration seems palpable, as there may have been no need for him to rule on the motion at all after Bankman-Fried requested to withdraw it. But the judge said the ruling was needed after Bankman-Fried waited to file his withdrawal request until after the DOJ and the court wasted time responding and reviewing filings, the judge said. Troublingly, Bankman-Fried's request to withdraw his request without prejudice would have allowed him to potentially request a new trial after the appeal ended. Based on the substance of the filing, that risked wasting future court resources, Kaplan determined. To prevent overburdening the justice system, Kaplan deemed it necessary to deny Bankman-Fried's motion and request for recusal, rather than allow him to withdraw the filing without prejudice.
When life is a game... (Score:5, Interesting)
Bankman-Fried would, famously, play actual video games during investor meetings. And while he was praised for the ability at the time, maybe it goes to show that someone who can't tell the difference between a game and reality will start to think of real-life stats as just more game artifacts to be manipulated to his advantage.
So, next time you're in a meeting with someone and impressed by that person's answers only to find he's playing a video game while doing it... start to question that person's grip on the difference between a game gank and a real one. Especially when the business is, by definition, something that's pretty virtual to begin with.
I suspect he will continue to try and find a loophole out of his current situation, but that the courts are a little less likely to be snowed by ADHD-fueled shaking of his prison bars than others had been.
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Cluelessness and high levels of self-assuredness go together. Smart people realize where their limits are and work on them. People like this person just barge ahead. And because a lot of people are like that (only with low effective intelligence on top), this "strategy" is successful. There are tons of really bad failures by CEOs of really large enterprises as a nice illustration of that problem.
Everyone Is Lying to You for Money (Score:5, Interesting)
Bankman-Fried just got caught...
There is yet another new movie about Cryptocurrency. Here is a trailer:
Everyone Is Lying to You for Money | Official Trailer UHD [youtube.com]
Bitcoin Blockchain can only process 5 to 7 transactions per second.
Banks/payment networks: SWIFT is estimated at a little over 500 transactions per second, while card networks like Visa are often cited around 24,000 transactions per second.
Let's put it this way, if it takes more compute to process YOU will be paying for it.
Crypto is for crime!
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The people you are trying to reach are laughing at you.
The rest of us sympathize but... you're not going to make a difference. Anyone who could be convinced, has been convinced. It would take a propaganda campaign on the scale of a nation-state or a large corporation.
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Re: Everyone Is Lying to You for Money (Score:1)
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"You canâ(TM)t blame the tool for the crimes of men."
You absolutely can, and often you will be right. Tools don't commit crimes, but they are built to enable crimes to be committed.
Re: Everyone Is Lying to You for Money (Score:1)
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"can't tell the difference between a game and reality"
Uh, while I would argue that you should probably care because that person should be focusing on an investor meeting, it tickles me that you're suggesting somebody playing a videogame during a meeting supports the assertion that "they can't tell the difference between a game and reality".
That would probably amount to a whole lot of people who can't tell the difference between a game and reality (which I don't agree with) rather than a whole lot of people
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There are conversations on record where he admits to his co-conspirators that the gaming was part of the grift to get investors thinking about him as a kid genius.
He's apparently not good at league, the main game he was seen playing in those situations... apparently his account history shows that he never got past Bronze rank, which is literally 2nd from the bottom. There's no reason to believe he was ever good at any games, it was all just a shallow, brazen act that relied on the ignorance of everyone else
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Ah, yes, the stupid "kid genius" meme. Has that ever panned out anywhere? Yet it refuses to die. People (including most investors) are not smart.
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Indeed. He should have bought himself a pardon when he still had money ...
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Bankman-Fried would, famously, play actual video games during investor meetings.
I agree with a lot that you say. In my own case however, I keep things on the conference table that I play with during meetings. I need something to keep my hands busy. It helps me think - I know that sounds odd to most people. But My mind never works on only one thing at a time, and the messing about keeps me focussed on the meeting much better.
Normal? probably not.
Bankman-Fried? He has enough other issues that playing a video game seems more like crypto-nerdbro showing off than my situation.
Dude (Score:4, Insightful)
Just buy a pardon. It will take time, money, and ass-kissing, but it has worked for the other finance criminals.
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Didn't he already? Otherwise wouldn't he be filing appeals rather than asking for his trial to be rerun?
Where was this logic for Serial (Score:1)
Honestly if he had held out just a little longer (Score:5, Insightful)
The line between a successful grifter like Elon Musk and a guy rotting in prison like Bankman-Fried is actually pretty thin. It's just a matter of keeping the scam going long enough so that people who matter don't lose money and making sure that people who matter somehow know it's a scam. That last one is the mistake Elizabeth Holmes and Bernie Madoff made.
Honestly though his parents have money and I think this was a federal case so I'm not sure why they don't just buy a pardon from Trump like everybody else. Maybe they are just waiting for the heat to die down a little or maybe he just ripped off too many extremely rich people and Trump was told by one of the real billionaires not to do the pardon
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This is the same judge who ruled over Trump's case. This new case just goes to show how "evil" Kaplan is, and therefor Bankman-Fried needs a pardon, as Kaplan himself points out. Fun times.
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love how "evil" is in quotes here, almost as if the poster knows how dishonest it is. Fun times.
fraud in, fraud out (Score:1)
Nice! (Score:4)
Wow! It's really nice to see a judge get it right on a high-profile case like this. All too often it seems like they bend to the will of the rich and powerful.
A ton of people worldwide were harmed by the shenanigans at FTX and SBF deserves to be punished for the harm he caused.
Honesty ? LOL (Score:3)
Can a single republican take responsinility for his actions or is it a prerequisite for their lot to always portray themselves as innocent victims or democrat persecution and their evil deep state conspiracies and machiavelian plots to discredit and jail them ? Men take responsibility for their acts , republicans ? i never seen a single honest one, They're ridiculous . The whole lot of them, I am so blessed , neither living in the USA nor being American. Canada is now the best nation and place to live in the Americas, We won.
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You believe SBF is a republican? That seems a reasonable conclusion to reach based on all the money he gave to Democrat politicians. Perhap
Pardon? (Score:2)
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Trump picked the other side, he pardoned CZ, and you can't convince me SBF's parents had nothing to do with CZ's prosecution.
Sam Bankman-Fried-the-Customers /s (Score:3)
During the height of FTX, Bankman-Fried lived in a "polycule" arrangement in a $30 million, five-bedroom penthouse at the exclusive Albany resort in Nassau. A total of over $200 million spent on real estate. An in-house psychiatrist was on hand to dole out prescription stimulants to the residents.