Key Highlights:

• Bankman-Fried’s legal team claims Judge Kaplan’s rulings were biased, preventing SBF from mounting a full defense and pushing a “false narrative” about customer losses.
• SBF is seeking a new trial with a different judge, calling into question the role of Sullivan & Cromwell and the fairness of the proceedings.

Yello Paradisers! Hold onto your hats, crypto enthusiasts, Sam Bankman-Fried is fighting back! The disgraced FTX founder has officially filed an appeal, claiming his fraud conviction and 25-year prison sentence were the result of judicial bias. If you thought the courtroom drama was over, think again, this twist might just flip the whole case upside down.

SBF Calls for New Trial, Alleges Judge’s Bias

In a 102-page appeal, Bankman-Fried’s legal team, led by Alexandra A.E. Shapiro, accused Judge Kaplan of stacking the deck against him. Their argument? SBF wasn’t even given a fighting chance to prove his innocence.

The appeal claims Judge Kaplan made decisions that unfairly restricted SBF’s defense, including barring him from arguing that FTX customers might recover their funds through bankruptcy. According to the appeal, this allowed prosecutors to push a “false narrative” that FTX users lost all their money – when, in reality, the jury was only seeing “half the picture.”

The appeal also throws shade at Kaplan for limiting SBF’s testimony about legal advice he relied on for key business decisions and for ordering an “unprecedented” deposition before the trial. Shapiro went so far as to claim that the judge’s behavior bordered on mockery, undermining the defense and deriding SBF’s testimony.

SBF’s Last-Ditch Effort to Overturn Conviction

Bankman-Fried’s legal team is gunning for a new trial, preferably with a different judge at the helm. They’re also raising red flags over the role of Sullivan & Cromwell, FTX’s former counsel, who allegedly pushed for SBF’s resignation and may have acted as an extension of the prosecution.

This appeal represents a last-ditch effort for the former crypto kingpin, who’s maintained his innocence from the start. But with odds notoriously stacked against appeals, will this move be enough to overturn his conviction for fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering?

With this latest appeal, the saga of Sam Bankman-Fried is far from over. Could the crypto world’s fallen golden boy really pull off a comeback? Stay tuned, this rollercoaster is nowhere near its final loop.