SBF Trial Judge Is Veteran of High-Stakes Courtroom Showdowns

The New York federal judge presiding over Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial previously handled author E. Jean Carroll’s civil suit against Donald Trump, and a trial involving a college basketball recruiting scandal, among other prominent cases.

US District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan will oversee jury selection set to begin Tuesday in the Southern District of New York. Kaplan’s already issued a series of rulings against the FTX founder in the trial run-up, including an Oct. 1 decision that Bankman-Fried can’t refer in his opening statement to the involvement of attorneys in certain events at FTX.

Kaplan, a New York City native appointed to the bench by President Bill Clinton in 1994, has a reputation among attorneys as an efficient trial judge. The judge, who took senior status in 2011, knows how to keep a trial moving, said Elisha Kobre, a Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP attorney and former federal prosecutor who has appeared before Kaplan.

“Because of his level of experience, he’s able to deal with motions and legal issues that come up during trial with greater efficiency and greater speed, which is to the benefit of everyone,” Kobre said.

The Justice Department is accusing Bankman-Fried of running a multibillion-fraud at FTX, in among the biggest white-collar crime cases in US history.

Kaplan’s ability to keep trials on track will be tested in the proceedings, expected to last several weeks and involve millions of pages of documents. He’s already curbed Bankman-Fried several times in the months leading up to the trial.

In August, Kaplan revoked Bankman-Fried’s bail after finding he likely tried to tamper with two witnesses. The judge has twice refused Bankman-Fried’s requests to be released to prepare for trial. Kaplan in a Sept. 28 hearing questioned whether Bankman-Fried may be motivated to flee.

Kaplan warned Bankman-Fried in February that he might spend the trial in jail, following concerns about the FTX founder’s use of encrypted messaging apps and virtual private networks. Months later the judge said Bankman-Fried had “shown a willingness and a desire to risk crossing the line in an effort to get right up to it.”

Bankman-Fried has said he wants to point to evidence at trial that lawyers were involved in various decisions at FTX, including agreements with FTX’s trading arm Alameda Research. He says it’s relevant to show he lacked criminal intent.

“It is helpful at the outset to clear the verbal underbrush,” Kaplan said in his Oct. 1 opinion, before ruling on Bankman-Fried’s bid.

Kaplan barred Bankman-Fried from referring to that evidence in an opening statement, worried about confusing jurors by focusing on the lawyers’ involvement. Kaplan will decide during trial whether the evidence is allowed in other contexts.

Taking Note

Born in Staten Island in 1944, Kaplan graduated from the University of Rochester and Harvard Law School before clerking for Judge Edward McEntee in the US Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.

Kaplan was a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP before joining the bench. During his time at the firm, he helped represent Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis against a freelance photographer accused of harassing Onassis and her children. A court ordered the photographer to keep a certain distance away.

Kaplan has presided over numerous trials in his nearly three decades on the bench.

In May, a jury found Trump liable for sexually abusing Carroll in the mid-1990s and then defaming her by calling her a liar. Carroll was awarded $5 million. Kaplan also oversaw a 2018 criminal trial that resulted in wire fraud convictions for a former Adidas executive and two others accused of funneling illegal payments to college basketball prospects.

More recently, the judge presided over a civil suit brought by Anthony Rapp accusing actor Kevin Spacey of making an unwanted sexual advance decades ago. A jury cleared Spacey in October 2022.

Kaplan has also overseen proceedings connected to the 1998 terrorist bombings of US embassies in Africa, as well as criminal cases against alleged members of the Gambino crime family.

Kaplan was assigned Bankman-Fried’s case after the original judge, Ronnie Abrams—Kaplan’s successor on the court—recused herself over a potential conflict of interest.

In 2008, Kaplan oversaw a 10-week tax-shelter trial involving former KPMG LLP employees , which was then billed as the largest criminal tax case in US history. In a University of Rochester profile, Kaplan said a lengthy trial takes a lot of energy.

“I keep alert by taking notes,” Kaplan was quoted as saying. “I’m a compulsive note-taker and it keeps my head in the game.”

The case is US v. Bankman-Fried, S.D.N.Y., No. 22-cr-673.