Nishad Singh, former engineering chief of bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX, pleaded guilty to fraud and several other criminal charges at a hearing on Tuesday related to the collapse of the company, Bloomberg reported.
See related article: FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried hit with four more criminal charges
Fast facts
- Singh pleaded guilty to six counts, including fraud and campaign finance law violations. He also said he was aware that Alameda Research, the trading arm of FTX, borrowed funds from the exchange in violation of the company’s own regulations, according to the report.
- Bahamas-based FTX, once one of the world’s biggest crypto exchanges, collapsed in November last year and the founder and former head Sam Bankman-Fried also faces a list of criminal charges, including money laundering.
- In December, Caroline Ellison, the former chief of Alameda, and former FTX chief technology officer Gary Wang pleaded guilty to several charges related to operations at the company.
- Bankman-Fried in January pleaded not guilty to eight charges related to the failure of FTX. He is out of detention on a $250 million bail, one of the largest in U.S. history, and will likely face a court trial in October.
- Singh reportedly reached a plea-bargain agreement as part of a deal to cooperate with prosecutors looking into the FTX collapse.
- Last week, Bankman-Fried received another four criminal charges in an indictment filed in New York federal court, which revealed details on how he allegedly conspired to make illegal political donations and to commit bank fraud.
See related article: Judge says Bankman-Fried could ‘conceivably’ have bail revoked: CNN