Lawyers say that FTX engineering director Nishad Singh’s early cooperation was critical to bringing cases against the exchange’s founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former division exec Ryan Salame.
Singh pled guilty to six criminal charges in February 2023.
Lawyers representing former FTX Director of Engineering Nishad Singh have asked a federal judge to spare him prison in a sentencing submission document filed with the U.S. Southern District of New York on Oct. 16.
The filing describes Singh as an “uncommonly selfless individual” and includes more than 100 letters from family, friends and former colleagues.
“His role was far more limited than any other defendant. He does not minimize his conduct; he pled guilty to serious crimes at the outset of this case and will regret his actions for the rest of his life. But his sentence should recognize that Nishad did not join the conspiracy at the heart of this case – the theft of FTX customer funds – until September 2022, just two months before the collapse of FTX,” his lawyers wrote.
The document also noted that following FTX’s announcement that it would declare bankruptcy, Singh flew to New York and cooperated with authorities.
“The evidence Nishad provided in those early meetings was critical to helping the government bring both Sam Bankman-Fried and Ryan Salame to justice,” the document states.
Singh pled guilty to six criminal charges, including fraud and conspiracy for his role in the collapse of FTX in February 2023. He testified against his former boss, Sam Bankman-Fried, during his trial in October 2023.
Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March this year after being found guilty on seven different fraud and conspiracy charges. His former girlfriend and CEO of Alameda Research, Caroline Ellison, received two years last month after pleading guilty to the same charges as Bankman-Fried. The CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Salame, began a 7.5 year prison sentence earlier this month after pleading guilty to charges of operating an unlicensed money transmitter and conspiring to defraud the Federal Election Commission.
Singh is due to be sentenced on Oct. 30. Former chief technology officer Gary Wang will be sentenced on Nov. 20.
