KEY POINTS
- Sam Bankman-Fried's team could be preparing for an appeal
- His lawyers told the court that the crypto mogul will not file any post-trial motions
- SBF is currently detained at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center
The decision of Sam Bankman-Fried, the disgraced co-founder and former CEO of FTX, to not file any post-trial motions seemingly hints at the possibility that his legal team is working on a potential appeal.
Bankman-Fried, widely known as SBF, was convicted on seven federal fraud charges on Nov. 2.
"On behalf of our client, Samuel Bankman-Fried, we respectfully submit this letter to update the Court on the status of post-trial motions. After further consideration, we have decided not to file any post-trial motions. We reserve our rights to pursue any claims on appeal," Bankman-Fried's lawyers said in a letter to Judge Lewis Kaplan on Dec. 1.
Legal experts believe Bankman-Fried's decision to forego post-trial motions suggests that the team is currently working on an appeal. This is highly likely considering that the crypto mogul's lawyers, particularly Mark Cohen, asserted his client's innocence and said they would "continue to vigorously fight the charges against him."
Bankman-Fried's lawyers had also filed a bail plea, which was denied by Magistrate Joyann Ferguson Pratt, saying the ex-crypto mogul was a potential flight risk.
His next hearing is scheduled for Feb. 8, 2024.
SBF was facing a total of 13 charges, but five counts that were brought after his extraction from the Bahamas were split off into a separate trial, which will be held in March 2024. It is not yet clear whether prosecutors want to move forward with the March trial.
The jury's verdict on Nov. 2, which found the 31-year-old MIT graduate guilty on seven fraud charges, could put him behind bars for around 115 years.
Bankman-Fried is currently detained at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, where he is reportedly receiving special treatment while serving as a crypto advisor to prison guards. He has also learned how to trade using mackerel fish.
The former crypto billionaire is reportedly being served his preferred vegetarian meals in his cell and getting his "desired Adderall dosage," a drug used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Bankman-Fried is sharing his cell with high-profile people like Mexico's former secretary of public security Genaro García Luna and Honduras' former President Juan Orlando Hernández.
This is in contrast with the version of a former inmate who reportedly saved the ex-crypto mogul from getting extorted inside the facility. In an interview, mob enforcer-turned-informant Gene Borrello told crypto blogger Tiffany Fong that Bankman-Fried experienced the harsh prison environment and was placed on suicide watch.
