Prosecutors said former FTX engineering director Nishad Singh, who pleaded guilty and cooperated with authorities, provided “substantial assistance” to the United States government, hinting the judge should be lenient at sentencing.
In an Oct. 23 filing in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York, US Attorney Damian Williams asked Judge Lewis Kaplan to consider Singh’s cooperation, which helped in the prosecution of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame. Singh is scheduled to appear before the judge on Oct. 30 for sentencing after pleading guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges in 2023.
According to prosecutors, Singh’s testimony at SBF’s trial was a “core part” of the government’s case by helping the jury understand “how FTX’s code permitted the illegal use of customers’ funds” and “identif[ying] in detail the transactions by Bankman-Fried that involved the use of stolen money.”
The filing seemed to place much of the blame for FTX’s downfall on SBF’s actions, of which Singh was often “unwittingly” a part.
“Singh approached his cooperation with earnest remorse and eagerness to assist,” said Williams. “He began meeting with the Government shortly after FTX’s collapse, produced Signal messages to the Government that would otherwise have been unavailable, and spent considerable time reviewing documents and FTX’s code to help identify key pieces of evidence that were used at trial.”
The filing added:
“[A]ssuming Singh continues to comply with the terms of his cooperation agreement, the Government intends to request at sentencing that the Court sentence Singh in light of the factors set forth in Section 5K1.1(a) of the Guidelines.”
Source: SDNY
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The former FTX engineering director pleaded guilty to six felony charges in February 2023, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, wire fraud, conspiracy to commit commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and conspiracy to make unlawful political contributions. He and his colleagues — former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and FTX co-founder Gary Wang, who both pleaded guilty — testified at SBF’s trial in October 2023.
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Bankman-Fried is serving 25 years in prison after a guilty verdict and a March sentencing hearing, but his lawyers have filed an appeal. Salame was sentenced to 90 months in prison, reporting to the Federal Correctional Institution in Cumberland on Oct. 11.
It’s unclear whether Judge Kaplan will sentence Singh to time served as the former FTX executive’s lawyers requested or impose a more stringent penalty. Prosecutors also cited Ellison’s cooperation in prosecuting Bankman-Fried before her sentencing hearing, but she still received two years in federal prison.
Wang, who pleaded guilty to similar charges, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20. He could be the last individual in the FTX indictment to face prison time more than two years after the cryptocurrency exchange collapsed.
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