Another member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle is reportedly planning to plead guilty for his role in the alleged fraud that occurred on cryptocurrency exchange FTX. Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering, is trying to negotiate a deal with New York prosecutors, according to unnamed sources familiar with the matter.
Sources say ex-FTX director of engineering nears tender deal, Singh may give critical testimony
On Friday, Bloomberg reporter Allyson Versprille reported that Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, is negotiating a deal with federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Two other people from Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, have already pleaded guilty to charges related to multi-year fraud that allegedly took place at FTX since 2019.
Unnamed sources familiar with the matter told Versprille about the deal, and the reporter noted that the deal with Singh has not been finalized. The U.S. Attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY) declined to comment on the alleged deal, and Versprille also noted that a representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment. If Singh cooperates with authorities against Bankman-Fried, the former FTX boss will be outnumbered, as Wang and Ellison are already cooperating with authorities.
Nishad Singh, FTX’s former director of engineering.
Bankman-Fried is awaiting trial scheduled for October 3, 2023, and prosecutors have sought to restrict his use of specific types of electronic devices. The reason for the prosecution’s action against the use of specific electronics is because Bankman-Fried was found to be using a VPN in January and February 2023. While the judge has restricted the former FTX boss’ use of end-to-end encrypted messenger services such as Signal , a decision has not yet been made to restrict the use of other forms of electronics, such as VPNs.
Bankman-Fried faces more than 100 years in prison for the crimes he is charged with, and he has pleaded not guilty to the eight charges. The FTX co-founder was indicted on December 13, 2022 by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, and SDNY Attorney Damian Williams stated that he was charged with “fraud, money laundering and campaign finance offenses.” Playing a critical role in FTX’s engineering and infrastructure, Singh was initially hired by Alameda Research in 2017. Two years later, Singh began working closely with Bankman-Fried and top lieutenants at FTX.
If Singh takes a deal and pleads guilty, he will be the third member of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to do so. It is unknown if other FTX or Alameda employees are working with federal prosecutors. The SDNY’s top prosecutor, Williams, has mentioned twice that if anyone played a role in the FTX collapse and hasn’t come forward, they should do so before the authorities come knocking on their door. “If you participated in wrongdoing at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to come forward,” Williams stressed after revealing that Wang and Ellison both cooperated.
What are your thoughts on the potential implications of Nishad Singh’s cooperation with the authorities? Share your opinion on this matter in the comments section below.
Jamie Redman
Jamie Redman is the news editor at Bitcoin.com News and a financial technology journalist living in Florida. Redman has been an active member of the cryptocurrency community since 2011. He has a passion for Bitcoin, open source and decentralized applications. Since September 2015, Redman has written more than 6,000 articles for Bitcoin.com News about the disruptive protocols emerging today.
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