Former FTX chief engineer Nishad Singh has become the third member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle to accept a co-operation deal with investigators, following a similar move by FTX co-founder Gary Wang and Alameda Research head - and one-time girlfriend of Bankman-Fried - Caroline Ellison.
Singh does not currently have any charges filed against him, according to the Bloomberg report, but former FTX staff have been pressured to come forward by US Attorney Damian Williams, who is leading the criminal case against Bankman-Fried,
“If you participated in misconduct at FTX or Alameda, now is the time to get ahead of it,” stated Williams, calling on potentially guilty parties to come forward.
Singh attended a proffer session, in which individuals are usually granted limited immunity to share what they know with prosecutors, last week at the New York Attorney’s Office.
Even though Singh is not currently facing criminal or civil charges, he is being probed by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) for receiving hundreds of millions of dollars in loans from Alameda Research.
Alameda Research, which was also founded by Bankman-Fried, is accused of siphoning billions in FTX customers’ funds through an illegal ‘back door’ mechanism.
Since Singh helped develop the code which FTX ran on, he may be able to offer insights into the back door mechanism.
Also in the spotlight are US$9.3mln worth of political donations made to Democratic candidates and committees since 2020, said the Bloomberg report.
Following Singh’s co-operation deal, Bankman-Fried’s circle of friends has all but dissipated.
He remains under house arrest on criminal fraud charges relating to the FTX collapse at his parents’ California location on US$250mln bail.