Does SBF’s Appeal Stand a Chance of Succeeding?

In that time, the crypto industry has moved on: markets are up, VC dollars are back, and politicians are once again supporting the industry. Meanwhile, the mainstream media has almost forgotten about the fallen crypto king, SBF himself.

So might a judge and jury see SBF’s case differently should it hear evidence from the FTX founder again?

That certainly seems to be the hope of SBF’s new legal team, which took over his case after his trial lawyers, Mark Cohen and Christian Everdell, stepped down following his conviction. On Friday, Sept. 13, his new lead lawyer, Alexandra Shapiro, filed an appeal to the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, laying out why SBF believes he deserves another hearing.

“In the United States, people accused of crimes are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt,” Shapiro’s appeal begins. “They are entitled to a fair trial by a jury. When the government introduces evidence, defendants have the right to rebut that evidence and present their side of the story. That, at least, is how it’s supposed to work. But none of that happened here.”

The 102-page document argues that SBF was unfairly treated at trial, which took place as public scrutiny of the FTX case reached a fever pitch. Shapiro argues SBF was “presumed guilty by federal prosecutors eager for quick headlines,” “presumed guilty by the judge who presided over his trial,” and that the “prevailing narrative” of FTX’s collapse, and SBF’s part in it, was accepted as true, without proper inquiry.

“From day one, the prevailing narrative—initially 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 appeal continues.