US District Judge Lewis Kaplan has denied Sam Bankman-Fried's request for a new trial, asserting that it would waste court resources. Bankman-Fried, who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in 2024 for orchestrating one of the largest financial frauds in American history, claimed that newly discovered witnesses and evidence could aid his defense. However, Judge Kaplan found that these witnesses were not newly discovered and that Bankman-Fried had failed to demonstrate any credible evidence supporting his claims of government intimidation. The judge criticized Bankman-Fried's arguments as 'wildly conspiratorial' and noted that the witnesses he mentioned were known to him throughout the trial, yet he did not seek to compel their testimony. Kaplan also expressed skepticism regarding the credibility of a witness who recanted his testimony, stating that such claims should be treated with 'utmost suspicion.' The judge concluded that granting Bankman-Fried's request would require another judge to familiarize themselves with an extensive record, further emphasizing the lack of merit in the motion.