Nishad Singh, 27, co-founder of collapsed crypto exchange FTX and close confident to founder Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF) pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including conspiring to commit securities and commodities fraud. Moreover, the U.S. regulators SEC and CFTC announced fraud complaints against Singh. The FTX scheme was founded by Singh along with Samuel Bankman-Fried (SBF) and Gary Wang. U.S. Prosecutors allege that SBF stole billions of dollars of FTX customer funds.
Nishad Singh also pleaded guilty to defrauding the U.S. in a campaign-finance scheme. He admitted in court that he made illegal donations to political-action committees and candidates using Alameda funds. The contributions were to enhance SBF and FTX’s political influence, Nishad said.
I’m unbelievably sorry for my role in all of this and the harm that it has caused.
Nishad Singh
According to the SEC’s complaint, Nishad Singh created software code that allowed FTX customer funds to be diverted to Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund owned by SBF and Gary Wang. The complaint also alleges that Singh actively participated in the scheme to deceive FTX’s investors. SBF, with the knowledge of Singh, directed hundreds of millions of dollars more in FTX customer funds to Alameda, which were used for additional venture investments and loans to Bankman-Fried, Singh, and other FTX executives.
Just before the scheme’s collapse, Singh withdrew approximately $6 million from FTX for personal use and expenditures, including purchasing a multi-million dollar house and donating to charitable causes.
Under the terms of Singh’s plea agreement, he must testify at any trial if federal prosecutors request that he do so. The trial of SBF is scheduled for October 2023. He has pleaded not guilty so far.
