Indian-origin FTX executive Nishad Singh pleads guilty in crypto case

Nishad Singh serves as Director of Engineering at FTX (Image credit: LinkedIn)

Indian-origin Nishad Singh, who was part of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle that ran his crypto empire FTX, pleaded guilty to US criminal charges on Tuesday, and agreed to cooperate with the investigation into Bankman-Fried, Reuters reported.

Nishad Singh, 27, served as Director of Engineering at FTX, the now-bankrupt crypto exchange saw a remarkable reversal in fortune amid worsening solvency problems.

"I am unbelievably sorry for my role in all of this," Singh said, adding that he knew by mid-2022 that Bankman-Fried's hedge fund, Alameda Research, was borrowing FTX customer funds, and customers were not aware. He said that he would forfeit proceeds from the scheme.

Singh, an ex Facebook employee, was among the nine housemates of 30-year-old Sam Bankman-Fried, according to a Coindesk report. The group lived and worked together in a luxury penthouse in the Bahamas, from where they ran FTX.

He pleaded guilty of wire fraud, conspiracy to commit fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the United States by violating campaign finance laws, Reuters reported.

Nishad Singh joined Alameda Research, FTX’s sister organisation which is at the centre of the controversy, in December 2017. According to his LinkedIn profile, he studied at Crystal Springs Uplands School in California and graduated summa cum laude from the University of California Berkeley with a bachelor degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science in 2017.

Before joining Alameda Research, he was a software engineer at Facebook – an entry level position which allowed him to work on machine learning. According to Singh’s LinkedIn profile, he took over as Director of Engineering at FTX in April 2019.

Last month, US prosecutors expanded their case against FTX co-founder Sam Bankman-Fried, adding four counts, including conspiracy to commit bank fraud, to his already long chargesheet.

The move brought the total charges against the one-time digital currency billionaire to 12. His court date is set for October.

Bankman-Fried's downfall and extradition from the Bahamas late last year sent a shockwave through the cryptocurrency industry after a decade of extraordinary growth on the back of bitcoin and other digital currencies.

The 30-year-old lost his billionaire status overnight as his personal wealth plummeted nearly 94 per cent to $991.5 million in a single day. The fall in his fortune came after he announced that his crypto exchange was being bought by rival Binance. Binance later pulled out of the deal.