Former director of engineering at FTX, Nishad Singh, pleaded guilty to several US criminal charges, including wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud and money laundering, and conspiracy to defraud the US by violating campaign finance laws. Singh admitted that he knew by mid-2022 that Alameda Research, the hedge fund of FTX’s founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was borrowing customer funds from FTX, without customer knowledge.
Singh is the third close associate of Bankman-Fried to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors. Bankman-Fried faces 12 criminal charges after a new indictment was unsealed against him last week. He has pleaded not guilty.
Third Close Associate to Plead Guilty
Singh is the third close associate of FTX’s founder, Sam Bankman-Fried, to plead guilty and cooperate with prosecutors. Alameda’s former chief executive, Caroline Ellison, and FTX’s former chief technology officer, Gary Wang, pleaded guilty to several criminal charges in December.
Bankman-Fried, who faces 12 criminal charges, pleaded not guilty to the charges filed against him in December. The new charges filed last week alleged that Bankman-Fried conspired with two former FTX executives to donate tens of millions of dollars to influence lawmakers to pass legislation favorable to the company. The donations were illegal because they were made with “straw” donors or corporate funds.
Read More: Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty in New York to charges of fraud
Political Donations
Nishad Singh and Sam Bankman-Fried are major donors to Democratic politicians. Singh contributed $8 million to campaigns in the 2022 election cycle, according to OpenSecrets, while Bankman-Fried became an influential US political donor with an estimated net worth of $26 billion. The new charges alleged that Bankman-Fried directed an FTX executive to donate more than $21 million to a pro-LGBT group.
In addition to the criminal charges, the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed civil lawsuits against Singh.
Nishad Singh’s guilty plea is the latest development in the US authorities’ investigation into members of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle. Singh admitted to his role in the scheme and agreed to forfeit the proceeds. Bankman-Fried faces 12 criminal charges, and the new charges allege that he conspired to donate illegal campaign contributions to influence lawmakers.
The original source is reuters.com
