SBF Demands New Trial, Claims Biden’s DOJ Silenced Key FTX Witnesses

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Sam Bankman-Fried has filed a motion for a new trial, claiming that Biden’s Department of Justice threatened witnesses into staying silent or changing what they told the court. He announced the filing on X today.

The motion was filed under Rule 33 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure on February 10. It includes a sworn declaration from Daniel Chapsky, a former FTX insider who never testified at trial.

What the ‘Silenced’ Witnesses Would Have Said

SBF’s filing names three people he says the DOJ kept from helping his defense: Daniel Chapsky, Ryan Salame, and Nishad Singh.

According to the filing, Chapsky would have told the court that FTX was solvent during its November 2022 liquidity crisis and that customers could be repaid. He also claims Alameda Research’s account on FTX held a net positive balance in the billions throughout 2022.

The filing goes further. It alleges FTX’s bankruptcy estate deliberately manipulated financial data to back the prosecution’s case. It also claims the government “fundamentally misrepresented” what the negative balances in the fiat@ftx.com ledger actually meant.

For Salame and Singh, SBF says the DOJ used threats to block favorable testimony. Singh’s early statements to prosecutors allegedly shifted after pressure, while Salame never took the stand at all.

SBF Wants Judge Kaplan Off the Case

SBF is also calling for Judge Lewis Kaplan to recuse himself from ruling on the motion. He pointed to what he called a “pattern of prejudging defendants,” naming himself, Salame, and President Donald Trump as examples.

Community Remains Divided

Reactions on X were split.

Many dismissed the motion, pointing to the billions lost by FTX users and calling the filing a desperate move. Others saw it differently, with one user calling the Chapsky evidence “eye-opening” and framing the case as a broader failure of judicial fairness.

SBF’s Legal Push Follows Days of Public Claims

This filing comes after a week of posts where SBF accused lawyers of forcing the FTX bankruptcy and claimed prosecutors hid evidence that could have helped his case.

SBF is serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted on seven federal fraud charges tied to FTX’s $8 billion collapse.