FTX's former head of engineering pleads guilty to 6 criminal charges

By Ovunc Kutlu

ISTANBUL (AA) - The former head of engineering for FTX pleaded guilty to six charges Tuesday in New York.

Nishad Singh, 27, pleaded guilty in Manhattan Federal Court to wire fraud, conspiracy to commodities fraud, conspiracy to commit securities fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, conspiracy to violate campaign finance laws and defrauding the Federal Election Commission.

"Today’s guilty plea underscores once again that the crimes at FTX were vast in scope and consequence," Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams said in a statement.

"They rocked our financial markets with a multibillion dollar fraud. And they corrupted our politics with tens of millions of dollars in illegal straw campaign contributions. These crimes demand swift and certain justice and that is exactly what we are seeking in the Southern District of New York," he added.

The Securities and Exchange Commission also charged Nishad Singh "for his role in a multiyear scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX" while the Commodity Futures Trading Commission filed two-count complaint charges against Singh -- fraud by misappropriation and aiding and abetting fraud committed by Samuel Bankman-Fried.

The cryptocurrency trade platform founder and former CEO Bankman-Fried, 30, faces 12 charges for the implosion of his crypto firm, of which he has pleaded not guilty. He was released in December on $250 million bail and will remain in confinement at his parents’ home in Palo Alto, California.

Two of his associates, FTX co-founder and former CTO Gary Wang and Alameda Research's former CEO Caroline Ellison, pleaded guilty in December to multiple federal charges that include conspiracy to commit wire fraud, commodities fraud and securities fraud.

Once the world's third-largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, FTX's collapse also led to a sudden meltdown in the crypto market in late 2022.