As court cases investigating FTX higher-ups continue, Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX, pleaded guilty today to six counts of fraud and conspiracy.
The charges include three counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, one count of money laundering, one count of conspiracy to defraud the United States by breaking campaign finance laws, and one count each of wire fraud and three counts of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to Reuters. Tuesday’s plea was accepted by Southern District of New York U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan.
“I am unbelievably sorry for my role in all of this,” Singh said in court, according to Reuters.
The outlet reported that he also admitted that he knew about former FTX CEO Sam Bankman Fried’s hedge fund, Alameda Research, borrowing FTX customer funds behind customers’ backs.
When the two were in high school, Singh supposedly became good friends with Bankman-younger Fried’s brother.
Singh relocated to FTX as director of engineering in 2019 after working at the trading company Alameda Research, which is connected to FTX. Further probe into Bankman-inner Fried’s circle led to Singh’s plea agreement.
Since the cryptocurrency exchange was unable to satisfy user withdrawal requests, FTX folded in November of last year.
According to a shocking report from Coinbase, FTX eventually admitted to using customer money to finance investments into its co-owned trading company Alameda Research, which prompted FTX to eventually declare for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
John Ray III, the CEO of FTX appointed by the court, claimed to have never witnessed “such an utter failure of corporate controls at every level of an organization,” referring to FTX.