FTX: Director close to Bankman-Fried pleads guilty – 02/28/2023 – Market

Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded guilty to six felony charges at a hearing on Tuesday, as US prosecutors step up their investigation into members of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle. .

Singh, 27, pleaded guilty to one count of wire fraud, three counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, one count of conspiracy to commit money laundering and one count of conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws.

Bankman-Fried, founder of FTX, pleaded not guilty to eight criminal charges filed against him in December. Prosecutors say he stole billions of dollars in funds from FTX clients to cover losses at his hedge fund, Alameda Research. He acknowledged inadequate risk management but says he did not steal funds.

He now faces 12 criminal charges after prosecutors filed a new charge against him last week.

Singh became the third person close to Bankman-Fried to plead guilty and agreed to cooperate with prosecutors. Caroline Ellison, chief executive of Alameda, and Gary Wang, chief technology officer of FTX, pleaded guilty in December to seven and four felony counts, respectively.

“I’m sorry for my role in all of this,” Singh said, adding that he lost profits from the scheme. He said he knew in mid-2022 that Alameda was borrowing funds from FTX clients, and the clients didn’t know.

In new charges filed last week, prosecutors said Bankman-Fried conspired with two other 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 “orange” donors or corporate funds, prosecutors said. They said Bankman-Fried instructed another FTX executive, identified as CC-1, to donate more than $21 million to a pro-LGBT group.

Federal Election Commission records show that Singh contributed $1.1 million as of July 7, 2022 to the LGBTQ Victory Fund, a national organization dedicated to openly electing LGBTQ people.