Nishad Singh, a co-founder of cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has pleaded guilty to six criminal counts, including wire fraud and conspiracy to defraud the US by violating campaign finance laws. Singh, who was FTX’s director of engineering, is the third member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to agree to cooperate with prosecutors in the case against him. Former executives Caroline Ellison and Zixiao “Gary” Wang previously pleaded guilty to fraud charges.
JUST IN: Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at FTX, has agreed to plead guilty to U.S. criminal charges.
— unusual_whales (@unusual_whales) February 28, 2023
Illegal Donations to Political Candidates and PACs
Singh admitted to making illegal donations to political candidates and PACs under his name using funds from Alameda Research (FTX’s sibling hedge fund and crypto trading firm). He claimed the donations were intended to bolster the political influence of FTX and Bankman-Fried (aka SBF). Singh added that he agreed with the stances of those he donated to but didn’t pick the candidates. As per OpenSecrets, he contributed $8 million to Democratic PACs and campaigns during the 2022 election cycle.
Falsifying FTX’s Revenues and Borrowing Customer Funds
Singh additionally claimed that he falsified FTX’s revenues at SBF’s behest to make the company more palatable to investors. Moreover, Singh said he found out in mid-2022 that Alameda borrowed billions of dollars in customer funds from FTX. It emerged by September that Alameda wasn’t able to repay those funds.
