NEW YORK: Nishad Singh, a 27-year-old engineer of Indian-origin, who previously served as the co-lead engineer of FTX Trading Ltd, has admitted to charges of committing fraud.
Singh is facing federal charges related to a long-running scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX, the crypto trading platform.
At Tuesday's hearing, Singh, admitted guilt to one count of wire fraud, three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by violating campaign finance laws. After FTX's collapse in November, Singh returned from the Bahamas to aid the US investigation, according to prosecutor Danielle Sassoon. He was released on $250,000 bond.
Singh is the third close associate of Sam Bankman-Fried to plead guilty and collaborate with the investigation. In December, Caroline Ellison, who served as Alameda's CEO, and Gary Wang, who was FTX's chief technology officer, both admitted guilt to seven and four criminal charges, respectively.
Singh's attorneys, Andrew Goldstein and Russell Capone, stated that their client desires to assist the government to the best of his ability in making things right for victims.
Singh withdrew approximately $6 million from FTX for personal use and expenditures, including the purchase of a multi-million dollar house and donations to charitable causes. He has agreed to a settlement and is cooperating with ongoing investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC).
Bankman-Fried, aged 30, has been slapped with 12 criminal charges after prosecutors unveiled a new indictment against him last week. A spokesman for Bankman-Fried has refused to comment.
The SEC is seeking an injunction against future securities law violations and civil penalties, while the CFTC is charging Singh with fraud by misappropriation and aiding and abetting fraud. SEC Chairman Gary Gensler has called for crypto platforms to comply with laws to prevent similar fraud in the future.
