Another member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle is reportedly planning to plead guilty to criminal charges for his role in the alleged fraud that occurred at cryptocurrency exchange FTX. According to unnamed sources familiar with the matter, Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, is attempting to negotiate with New York prosecutors.
According to sources, the former director of engineering at FTX is close to a plea deal, and Singh could provide key testimony.
On Friday, Bloomberg reporter Allyson Barsprillereported that FTX’s former engineering director, Nishad Singh, is in negotiations with federal prosecutors in Manhattan. Two others who were close associates of Sam Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, have already pleaded guilty to charges related to a multi-year fraud allegedly committed at FTX since 2019.
An unnamed source familiar with the matter told Versprille about the agreement, noting that the reporter had not finalized the deal with Singh. The Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutor’s office 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 CEO would be at a disadvantage because Wang and Ellison are already cooperating with authorities.
Bankman-Fried is awaiting trial, scheduled for October 3, 2023, and prosecutors are trying to restrict his use of certain types of electronics. The prosecution took action against the use of certain electronic devices because Bankman-Fried was found to have used a VPN in January and February 2023. The judge restricted the former FTX executive’s use of end-to-end encrypted messenger services such as Signal, but has not yet decided to restrict his use of other forms of electronic devices such as VPNs.
Bankman-Fried faces more than 100 years in prison for the crimes he is accused of, and he has pleaded not guilty to eight indictments.The co-founder of FTX was indictedby a federal grand jury in Manhattan on December 13, 2022 andSDNY attorney Damian Williams said he was charged with “fraud, money laundering, and campaign finance crimes.” Singh played a key role in the FTX’s engineering and infrastructure and was originally hired by Alameda Research in 2017.Two years later, Singh began working closely with Bankman Freed and top underlings at the FTX.
If Singh strikes a deal and pleads guilty, he will become the third member of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle. It is unclear whether other FTX and Alameda employees are working with federal prosecutors; SDNY’s top prosecutor
