After the arrest of Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), ex-CEO of the bankrupt crypto exchange FTX, his key associates have found themselves in the crosshairs of US authorities, including Indian-origin Nishad Singh.
American prosecutors, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CTFC) are all reportedly probing Singh, according to US media reports. FTX’s director of engineering Singh is said to have been a high school friend of Bankman-Fried's younger brother, Gabe. During his stint with Bahamas-based FTX, which Singh once referred to as his “dream job,” he resided with Bankman-Fried in a penthouse.
Twitter screenshot feauring image of former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh.
© Photo : Twitter
The reportedly very close member of Bankman-Fried’s tight-knit inner circle is now being scrutinized for any misconduct in regard to the crypto-empire's ignonimous collapse. He is suspected of having been aware of the decision to dip into FTX customer money to funnel it to cover debts for Alameda Research. It was that decision, ultimately, that sealed the fate of FTX, reports stated. It also prompts the question: was Singh a party to the multiyear scheme at FTX and trading firm Alameda Research to defraud investors and clients?
Nishad Singh, a graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, with a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and computer science engineering, worked as the director of engineering at Alameda Research before assuming his FTX role. Singh was allegedly part of SBF’s secret Signal chat channel called “Wirefraud.” according to a spate of US media reports. FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, former FTX chief technology officer Zixiao ‘Gary’ Wang, and former Alameda Research chief executive Caroline Ellison, all allegedly resorted to this chat group.
Singh, just as Bankman-Fried and Wang, was allegedly responsible for FTX’s codebase, wallets, and trading engine. According to an earlier report in December, Nishad Singh “authored code that hid Alameda Research’s ballooning liabilities.”
Nishad Singh has not officially been accused of wrongdoing, with his lawyer, Andrew D. Goldstein, declining to offer any comment.
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Sam Bankman-Fried, the former CEO of FTX, pleaded not guilty to federal financial crime charges during a court hearing in New York in early January. Two of his former top associates, ex-Alameda chief executive Caroline Ellison and former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang, have both pleaded guilty.
In December, the US government indicted Bankman-Fried in what prosecutors declared was one of the biggest financial fraud cases in US history.
A liquidity crunch in the wake of a swathe of customer withdrawals in November triggered by reports of dubious finances had forced FTX to declare bankruptcy. It was then that billions of dollars worth of missing funds came to light. Prosecutors allege that FTX violated US campaign finance laws and schemed to misappropriate customer funds to pay debts at his other company, Alameda. They announced eight criminal charges, including wire fraud, money laundering and campaign finance violations against Bankman-Fried.
Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas, where he fled after stepping down on December 12 as CEO of the company he co-founded. He was then extradited at the request of US authorities, and released last month on a $250 million bond, with his criminal trial set to begin on October 2. If convicted, he faces a prison sentence of up to 115 years.