Calay News
Nishad Singh, who was co-founder and former chief engineer of the bankrupt FTX cryptocurrency exchange, is in plea negotiations, according to a Feb. 17 Bloomberg report. The deal would involve Singh, 27, pleading guilty to charges related to the FTX bankruptcy, although the deal has not yet been finalized. If Singh strikes a plea deal, he would follow in the footsteps of other former FTX leaders, such as Gary Wang, the former chief technology officer, and Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda, who pleaded guilty to federal fraud charges in December after reaching a plea deal. Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried has pleaded not guilty to eight federal charges and currently lives with his parents in California.
Singh was one of FTX’s longest-hidden leaders, but he reappeared at an arraignment session at the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York in early January. The federal criminal charges are only part of Singh’s legal concerns, as he and other close FTX members were named in a class action lawsuit against venture capital firm Sequoia Capital and private equity firms Thoma Bravo and Paradigm. Singh could also be subject to actions brought by the US Securities and Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, as Ellison and Wang settled cases brought against them by these agencies.
In addition, indictments have been filed against Bankman-Fried for campaign finance violations, and Singh, who was a major US Democratic donor, reportedly donated $9.3 million since 2020 to political candidates and causes.
