Ex-FTX CEO's buddy to cooperate with feds in exchange for plea deal

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
18 Feb 21:48

Officials believe Singh is an easy target because he was reportedly part of Bankman-Fried's inner circle, and also lived with him at the Bahamas apartment.

Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried at a press conference at the FTX Arena in Miami in June 2021 (Reuters)

Prosecutors believe that the former head of the FTX software engineering team and close friend of Sam Bankman-Fried's, Nishad Singh, could provide valuable information regarding his former boss's fraud charges, as Singh intends to plead guilty for his role in the collapse of the crypto company.

US media reported that Singh plans on cooperating with US officials while two former associates, Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, already pleaded guilty after cooperating. This update would make it harder for Bankman-Fried, who pleaded not guilty, to find an escape to prove his innocence.

Singh's duty at the company was to develop software, and was reportedly part of Bankman-Fried's inner circle, who also lived with him at the Bahamas apartment. These match the credentials that allowed the feds to believe Singh could offer much-needed information. Not only so, but with the case also involving FTX's financing of political campaigns, Singh is thought to have been aware of that since he allegedly funded Democratic candidates with more than $9.3 million.

Bankman-Fried on the other hand cashed $40 million to different political campaign groups over the duration of two years - mostly to Democrats but some to Republicans known to be accepting of the crypto industry.

US Attorney Damian Williams said, "All this dirty money was used in his desire to buy bipartisan influence and influence direction of public policy in Washington,"

Secretly watching football using banned VPN

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, presiding over the Bankman-Fried trial, warned of revoking the $250 million bail package unless Bankman-Fried was prohibited from using VPNs (which stands for virtual private network, a service meant to protect online privacy).

The judge believes that Bankman-Fried could also use VPN to influence or intimidate FTX employees who could serve as key witnesses in his case against him.

Bankman-Fried is accused of fraudulently using FTX customer deposits to pay the debts for his Alameda Research hedge fund, purchase real estate, and make political contributions totaling millions of dollars.

In further detail, he has been subject to electronic surveillance since his release and is being forced to live with his parents, both professors at Stanford Law School in California. The MIT graduate has been charged with two charges of wire fraud and six counts of conspiracy, including conspiracy to launder money and commit campaign finance violations. If convicted, he may face up to 115 years in prison.

Kaplan added that Bankman-Fried's contacts should be monitored by the government, which comes weeks after the ex-CEO was suspected to have used an encrypted Signal messenger to get in touch with FTX management and key witnesses.

In response, the defendant's lawyers called the judge's measures “draconian” and denied the allegation, to which Kaplan responded, “It isn't the government who contacted the witness.”

Kaplan also believes the ex-CEO used VPN to watch the NFL Super Bowl, which is currently taking place in the US.