As an analyst with over two decades of experience in the financial sector, I’ve seen my fair share of corporate scandals and misdeeds. This FTX saga, however, takes the cake. The sentencing of Nishad Singh to time served feels like a slap on the wrist considering the magnitude of the crimes committed. It’s reminiscent of a high-school detention for someone who’s just pulled off a multi-billion dollar heist.
The federal judge has ruled that Nishad Singh, a previous engineering chief at FTX, should serve the time he’s already spent in custody and be under supervision for three years due to his part in mishandling customer funds and infractions related to election financing.
On October 30th, Judge Lewis Kaplan in the Southern District of New York’s United States District Court handed down a sentence to 29-year-old Singh, who served the time that had already been spent. Singh was the fourth person mentioned in the indictment of FTX executives to appear before a judge, following sentencing hearings for former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried, former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison, and former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, Ryan Salame.
Based on accounts from Inner City Press in the courtroom, Singh’s legal team asserted that a significant portion of the fraud at FTX could be attributed to the actions of Bankman-Fried and Ellison. The former executive expressed deep regret over his involvement.
Judge Kaplan stated that this case could be among the most significant crimes ever to occur in America, yet he feels confident that your role was significantly less than that of Bankman-Fried or Ellison.
Since August 2023, Bankman-Fried has been in detention as Judge Kaplan rescinded his bail before the trial. Salame began serving time in prison on October 11th, while Ellison is scheduled to report to prison by November 7th.
In court documents, American prosecutors stated that Singh significantly aided the government in their case against Bankman-Fried. They asked Judge Kaplan to take this cooperation into account during sentencing for Singh. Singh’s legal representatives requested that he be granted time served already, while John Ray, who succeeded Bankman-Fried as FTX CEO, suggested it would be more beneficial if Singh used his time assisting with the bankruptcy case instead.
The sentencing hearing took place after a last-minute plea from former FTX Japan COO, Seth Melamed, who refuted Singh’s allegations that he was contacted regarding an incident where funds from the Japanese branch of the crypto exchange were not misused as claimed by Singh. Notably, FTX Japan was one of the initial subsidiaries enabling users to withdraw funds in 2023.
On November 20th, Gary Wang, one of the co-founders of FTX who is expected to be the last defendant in this case to face Judge Kaplan for sentencing, has a court hearing scheduled. In September, lawyers for Sam Bankman-Fried (Wang’s associate) filed an appeal with the Second Circuit Court, contesting both his conviction and sentence.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Read More
- ZK PREDICTION. ZK cryptocurrency
- LDO PREDICTION. LDO cryptocurrency
- BTC PREDICTION. BTC cryptocurrency
- SHIB PREDICTION. SHIB cryptocurrency
- ETH PREDICTION. ETH cryptocurrency
- CYBER PREDICTION. CYBER cryptocurrency
- BCH PREDICTION. BCH cryptocurrency
- JASMY PREDICTION. JASMY cryptocurrency
- RUNE PREDICTION. RUNE cryptocurrency
- AVAX PREDICTION. AVAX cryptocurrency
2024-10-30 23:24