Howard Fischer, Partner at Moses Singer and former Senior Trial Counsel at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, was quoted in The Block’s coverage of former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried’s appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.

Bankman-Fried, who was convicted in 2023 on seven counts of fraud related to the collapse of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, is seeking a new trial. Legal experts note that the defense faces significant challenges in convincing the appellate court to overturn or retry the case.

Fischer explained that appellate courts generally defer to trial judges in how they manage proceedings, making reversals rare absent major procedural issues: “Unless there are multiple errors which, taken together, deprive the defendant of a fair trial, they will strain to uphold the behavior of the trial judge,” Fischer said. “It is not likely that the Circuit Court will reverse based on the trial judge’s conduct or comments.”

Fischer added that the tone and level of engagement from the appellate judges may offer insight into how seriously the panel is considering Bankman-Fried’s arguments.