Judge Lewis Kaplan rejected Sam Bankman-Fried's motion for a new trial and blocked his attempt to withdraw it — a move that forecloses what was likely his last realistic escape route before trial. Kaplan noted that Bankman-Fried had his parents help draft the supposedly pro se filings and was engaged in a calculated reputation-rehabilitation campaign that he'd even documented in writing before his indictment. Bankman-Fried still has a pending Second Circuit appeal but it's widely expected to fail, leaving him with essentially no remaining pathways to overturn his 25-year sentence.