Sam Bankman-Fried withdrew his motion for a new trial on April 22, 2026, telling U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in a letter that he does not expect a "fair hearing" from the court. The withdrawal is framed as temporary. The former FTX chief, who is serving a 25-year sentence at FCI Cumberland in Cumberland, Maryland, after being convicted of fraud in October 2023, filed the motion himself in February 2026 and now says he is pulling it back rather than pressing forward under the current judge.

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A Motion Built on Shaky Ground

Bankman-Fried's retrial request rested on claims that federal prosecutors had intimidated potential defense witnesses during his 2023 trial, amounting to what he called "newly discovered evidence."

Two former FTX employees submitted affidavits in support. Daniel Chapsky, the exchange's former head of data science, said he had been deterred from testifying by fears of prosecutorial retaliation and media attacks.

Ryan Salame, a former FTX executive currently serving a seven-year sentence of his own, reportedly stated he would have spoken in Bankman-Fried's defense had he not been pressured. The Department of Justice moved to block the retrial in March 2026, arguing the motion contained no legitimate new evidence.

The filing ran into procedural problems from the start. Judge Kaplan questioned whether Bankman-Fried could legally represent himself while still having three attorneys on record. Kaplan stated plainly in a court document that defendants in criminal cases have the right either to represent themselves or to be represented by counsel, but not to exercise both options at the same time.

Kaplan also ruled that Bankman-Fried's mother, Barbara Fried, a Stanford Law professor, had no legal standing to file documents on her son's behalf. A letter supposedly sent by Bankman-Fried from his federal prison in Maryland arrived via FedEx, a service inmates cannot use, with tracking data pointing to an origin near Stanford's campus in Palo Alto or Menlo Park.

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Recusal Denied, Appeal Still Pending

Bankman-Fried had separately asked Kaplan to step aside from the case in late March 2026, alleging the judge held "disdain" toward him and had systematically excluded evidence bearing on his intent to commit fraud. Specifically, he claimed that Kaplan barred testimony showing that FTX's legal arrangements, including loans, customer fund policies, and agreements with Alameda Research, had been reviewed and approved by attorneys, and that this attorney review negated criminal intent. He also cited a Second Circuit ruling in a separate case in which Kaplan was found to have wrongfully excluded intent evidence, offering it as supporting precedent for his bias argument.

On X, formerly Twitter, he wrote that Kaplan "repeatedly cut off my testimony and excluded every kind of evidence the government asked him to."

He also drew a comparison to President Trump's legal battles, claiming the judge "used the same playbook."

Kaplan did not recuse himself. Legal observers have been skeptical throughout. Crypto attorney Carl Volz described Bankman-Fried's arguments as "emotional rather than substantive" and unlikely to succeed. Federal criminal appeals succeed at a rate of roughly 6%, based on data from 2011 to 2015; that figure applies directly to the appeal Bankman-Fried currently has pending before the Second Circuit.

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Creditor Recoveries Ongoing, but Caveats Apply

While the legal maneuvering continues, the FTX bankruptcy estate has distributed approximately $10 billion to creditors across four rounds of payments. The most recent distribution of $2.2 billion went out on March 31, 2026. U.S.-based customers in Class 5B received 100% of their claims. Class 5A (non-U.S.) customers reached a cumulative 96% recovery rate.

Creditors with smaller claims of $50,000 or less received 120% of their principal, including interest. A fifth distribution is scheduled for May 29, 2026.

There is a significant caveat attached to these figures. All claims are calculated using crypto prices from November 2022, when Bitcoin was trading near $16,871 and Ether near $1,258. Users who held Bitcoin or Ether and expected to recover those assets at current valuations are receiving far less in real terms than the recovery percentages suggest. Additionally, payouts to claimants in China and roughly 50 other jurisdictions remain frozen under a court order due to local regulatory restrictions, leaving many users in South Asia and Africa without access to distributions regardless of their claim status.

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The View From Africa and South Asia

For users in Nigeria, Ghana, and Kenya, the FTX collapse was not an abstract financial event. Crypto in those markets frequently functions as a savings vehicle, inflation hedge, or remittance tool, given limited access to traditional banking. Nigeria ranks 11th globally in crypto adoption according to Chainalysis, and Kenya and Morocco both appear in the global top 20.

After FTX collapsed in November 2022, roughly half of Africa's NFT community exited the space. Nigerian Web3 startup Nestcoin laid off staff after holding funds on the exchange. One Nigerian user, Osarieme Aghedo, who lost $8,720, described using FTX as a savings account to earn 8% interest on stablecoins. "It hurts more than I can express," he told Context.news. Elisha Owusu Akyaw, a Ghana-based content creator, pointed to the broader damage: "It's the impact it has had on the reputation of the crypto industry," he told Context.news.

In South Asia, Indian creditors face a 30% flat tax on recovered funds under Section 115BBH, compressing real returns further. Pakistani developers are now operating under the new Virtual Assets Act signed into law in March 2026, a shift from the country's previous prohibition on crypto activity, though the FTX collapse remains a reference point in policy debates about centralized custody risk.

Bangladeshi users remain subject to a complete crypto ban and had no legal path to file claims at all.

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What Comes Next

Bankman-Fried's withdrawal buys time without resolving anything. His appeal before the Second Circuit, argued in November 2025 before a panel that appeared skeptical of his arguments, remains pending. A ruling there could reopen or further foreclose his legal options. If and when he files a new retrial motion, legal observers note it would likely land before the same judge he has now publicly accused of unfairness.

President Trump has already stated he will not grant clemency.

For creditors waiting on the May distribution, and for communities across Africa and South Asia still rebuilding trust in the broader crypto market, the clearest outcome right now is continued uncertainty.