Nishad Singh becomes latest FTX exec to plead guilty

Former FTX executive Nishad Singh has agreed to plead guilty to six U.S. criminal charges filed against him in a lawsuit against the collapsed exchange, Reuters reported on Feb. 28. .

The charges are 1 count of wire fraud, 3 counts of conspiracy to defraud, 1 count of conspiracy to commit money laundering, and 1 count of conspiracy to commit campaign finance violations in the United States.

Singh, the exchange’s former engineering director, changed some of the code to allow Alameda Research to continue to take unconfirmed borrowings without being liquidated.

Reuters said Singh was seen commenting on the platform’s code, saying:

“Be especially careful not to liquidate.”

According to the SEC, code changes allegedly made by Singh gave Alameda a “virtually unlimited line of credit” on the collapsed exchange, through which billions of dollars it borrowed were mostly customer funds. .

Singh was also part of the Sam Bankman-Friend straw donor scheme, which used corporate funds to make illegal campaign donations to influence policy makers.

Based on Open Secrets records, Singh donated to one of the PACs named in the latest indictment filed against SBF.

SBF faces 12 different counts of wire fraud, money laundering and illegal campaign donations and is expected to go to trial later this year. He continues to plead not guilty to all charges.

Meanwhile, several former FTX executives have agreed to plead guilty and are cooperating with law enforcement, including former SBF inner circle members Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison.

Ellison pleaded guilty to seven counts and Wang pleaded guilty to four counts.

Several other former executives are considering working with prosecutors and have hired lawyers to discuss the matter, according to Reuters.

Additionally, FTX attorney Daniel Friedberg is also cooperating with the prosecution and has not faced criminal charges so far, the report said.

Posted In: Crime, Featured

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