Nishad Singh, a top Bankman-Fried associate, nears plea deal in FTX probe

livemint.com:

Another former member of Sam Bankman-Fried’s inner circle is planning to plead guilty to US criminal charges over his role in an alleged multiyear fraud at collapsed crypto exchange FTX.

Nishad Singh has been hammering out a deal with Manhattan prosecutors as they prepare to file fraud charges against him, according to people familiar with the matter. Such an agreement could involve cooperating with authorities and further isolate Bankman-Fried, who has pleaded not guilty to an eight-count indictment and is awaiting trial. The deal with Singh still has to be finalized.

The Manhattan federal prosecutors’ office declined to comment, as did Andrew D. Goldstein, Singh’s lawyer. Two of Bankman-Fried’s other former top associates, Gary Wang and Caroline Ellison, pleaded guilty last year to charges in connection to their roles at FTX and Alameda Research and are working with prosecutors. A representative for Bankman-Fried declined to comment.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission, the top US market regulators, are also planning to sue Singh over his role in the alleged scheme, said one of the people, who asked not to be named discussing the developments which haven’t been made public. Representatives for the CFTC and SEC declined to comment.

The ongoing, sprawling investigation into November’s spectacular collapse of FTX is one of the highest-profile corporate crime cases in US history. Officials have alleged that Bankman-Fried orchestrated a yearslong scam, which involved misleading investors and misusing billions of dollars of FTX customer funds for personal expenses and risky bets at Alameda, the trading firm affiliated with the crypto exchange.

As head of engineering, Singh