Former FTX Execs Nishad Singh, Gary Wang to Be Sentenced This Fall

Singh and Wang, two ex-FTX team members who admitted guilt to criminal offenses following the exchange’s collapse, provided testimony implicating Sam Bankman-Fried, FTX’s co-founder and former CEO. They claimed they became privy to illicit activities at FTX right before its bankruptcy filing. In a separate development, Ryan Salame, another former FTX executive, was recently sentenced to 7.5 years in prison after confessing to campaign finance violations. Unlike Singh and Wang, Salame did not implicate Bankman-Fried during his testimony.

On October 30, Singh’s sentencing hearing will take place at the Southern District of New York’s District Court. Approximately a few weeks after that, on November 20, Wang’s sentencing hearing is scheduled in the same court.

Caroline Ellison, a previous CEO at Alameda Research, admitted her guilt concurrently with Wang, but a definitive sentencing date remains undetermined. Ellison confessed to seven criminal offenses in total – including two counts of wire fraud and five conspiracy charges. In contrast, Wang owned up to four charges – one count of wire fraud and three conspiracy charges.

In February last year, Singh admitted to the courting of six criminal offenses which encompassed fraud and conspiracy among others. During the October trial of Bankman-Fried, it came to light that Singh became aware of a financial discrepancy amounting to $8 billion in FTX’s accounts around September 2022. Despite this knowledge, he endorsed transactions sourced from customer funds.

He shared that Alameda had squandered a massive hole, estimated to be worth $8 billion, leaving the last $8 billion of their expenditures solely attributed to customers. This spending encompassed various areas such as real estate investments, venture capital infusions, political campaign donations, and risky ventures in financial markets.

Singh gave testimony stating that he was responsible for setting up FTX systems in the year 2019 which directed customer deposits towards Alameda’s bank accounts. Furthermore, he developed functionalities that granted Alameda exclusive advantages, such as the “allow negative” tool, enabling them to withdraw more funds than their balance and collateral permitted.

Wang, admitted his involvement in a conspiracy to commit wire fraud, securities fraud, commodities fraud, and wire fraud during his trial with Bankman-Fried. Notably, he testified that he contributed to the creation of FTX’s website. His most incriminating statement was acknowledging the existence of a code segment representing FTX’s “public insurance fund,” which functioned as a public reassurance to investors regarding FTX’s financial reserves during potential crises.

The figure I presented did not have a connection to the real contents of the insurance fund, according to my testimony by Wang.

He explained to the prosecutors that he chose to assist the FBI as it appeared to be the appropriate action, and to avoid serving time in prison.

During his testimony last October, Singh similarly said he was “hoping for no jail time.”