Ex-FTX exec sentenced to time served after guilty plea

A federal judge has sentenced Nishad Singh, the former engineering director of FTX, to time served and three years of supervised release for his role in misappropriating user funds and campaign finance violations.

In an Oct. 30 hearing in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced the 29-year-old Singh to time served. He was the fourth individual named in the indictment of FTX executives to stand before a judge after sentencing hearings for former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame.

According to reporting from the courtroom by Inner City Press, Singh’s lawyers alleged “most of” the fraud at FTX was the result of Bankman-Fried’s and Ellison’s actions. The former FTX executive said he was “overwhelmed with remorse” for his role.

“This may have been one of the biggest crimes in American history,” said Judge Kaplan before announcing his decision. “But I’m convinced your involvement was much more limited than certainly Bankman-Fried’s and Ellison’s.”

Bankman-Fried has been in custody since August 2023 when Judge Kaplan revoked his bail prior to trial. Salame reported to prison on Oct. 11, and Ellison is expected to surrender herself by Nov. 7. 

In filings to the court, US prosecutors said Singh provided “substantial assistance” to the government in its case against Bankman-Fried and asked Judge Kaplan to consider his cooperation at sentencing. Singh’s legal team asked he be given time served, and John Ray, who took over as FTX CEO after Bankman-Fried resigned, suggested the former engineering director’s time would be better spent helping the bankruptcy case. 

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The sentencing hearing followed an eleventh-hour request from former FTX Japan chief operating officer Seth Melamed, who denied Singh’s claims that he called the COO in an action that resulted in funds from the exchange’s Japan arm “not [to] be used improperly.” FTX Japan was one of the first subsidiaries of the crypto exchange to allow users to withdraw funds in 2023. 

FTX co-founder Gary Wang, likely the last individual in the case to stand before Judge Kaplan for sentencing, has a hearing scheduled for Nov. 20. In September, Bankman-Fried’s lawyers filed an appeal in the Second Circuit challenging his conviction and sentence. 

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This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.