Motion alleges pressure on potential defense witnesses.
Sam Bankman-Fried’s (SBF) bid for a new trial has gained support from a former senior FTX employee who claims the collapsed exchange and its hedge fund affiliate were not insolvent when they filed for bankruptcy in November 2022.
In a pro se motion filed on Feb. 5 by SBF’s mother, Stanford law professor Barbara Fried, Daniel Chapsky, FTX’s former head of data, submitted a declaration challenging the claim that FTX and Alameda Research were irreparably insolvent.
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FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Nov. 11, 2022, after customers rushed to withdraw funds amid reports of balance sheet irregularities at Alameda.
At trial, prosecutors argued that FTX faced a multi-billion-dollar shortfall in customer funds.
SBF seeks a new trial due to new information
SBF’s mother, Barbara Fried has filed a pro se motion for a new trial for SBF
Daniel Chapsky, head of data at FTX submitted a declaration supporting a retrial. He States:
Chapsky submitted a declaration supporting the retrial motion.
He asserts that the companies were not balance-sheet insolvent on the bankruptcy date and that they could have satisfied customer claims.
The filing does not provide a full balance sheet analysis in the publicly released excerpts.
However, if credited, these claims could play a central role in arguments that jurors received an incomplete or misleading picture of FTX’s financial condition.
Allegations Regarding Witnesses
Chapsky’s motion also raises issues related to potential defense witnesses.
The filing states that prosecutors threatened former FTX executives Ryan Salame and Nishad Singh, preventing them from testifying for SBF.
In a section addressing Singh, the motion states there was “a hole in the proffer notes supplied to the defense” at the time prosecutors allegedly issued an ultimatum to his lawyers.
The filing says the defense was not informed about what the government communicated during a key January 2023 proffer session.
This omission, it argues, prevented the defense from investigating “the pressure the Government placed on Mr. Singh.”
SBF’s mother filed a pro se motion for a new trial for SBF | Souce: X (@sunil_trades)
In a separate section on Salame, the motion alleges that prosecutors met with his counsel months before the defense received materials and that the defense received “no record of this meeting, let alone details of what transpired.”
Singh and Salame both pleaded guilty before SBF’s trial and cooperated with prosecutors.
SBF Claims FTX Was Never Insolvent
In October, SBF circulated a lengthy written defense asserting that the exchange remained balance-sheet solvent when it entered bankruptcy, echoing Chapsky’s recent claims.
In the roughly 15-page statement, he contended that FTX held approximately $14.6 billion in assets compared with about $8 billion in customer claims as of Nov. 11, 2022.
The shortfall that triggered the exchange’s rapid downfall, he wrote, stemmed from a liquidity squeeze rather than a fundamental asset deficit.
[ZachXBT says:]
The creditors were paid from crypto prices at the time of the FTX Nov 2022 bankruptcy and not at current prices which caused users to take massive losses if they held assets like SOL or BTC.
Illiquid investments worth more today are just a coincidence.
“The creditors were paid from crypto prices at the time of the FTX Nov[ember] 2022 bankruptcy and not at current prices, which caused users to take massive losses if they held assets like SOL or BTC.”
“Illiquid investments worth more today are just a coincidence,” ZachXBT added.
“You clearly have not learned from your time spent in prison thus far and repeat the same misinformation like before.”
Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
