By Danielle Kaye and David Yaffe-Bellany
Nishad Singh, a key adviser to the disgraced cryptocurrency figure Sam Bankman-Fried, evaded prison time for his part in the FTX crypto exchange’s collapse, following a federal judge’s recognition of his cooperation with U.S. prosecutors earlier this week.
At a U.S. District Court hearing in Manhattan, 29-year-old Singh was sentenced to three years of supervised release, a surprising outcome considering Bankman-Fried and two other FTX officials received lengthy prison terms. Judge Lewis A. Kaplan, overseeing the cases, noted Singh’s significant help to the government and remarked that he had a “much more limited” involvement in the operation compared to his counterparts.
“I’m not naïve enough to believe that there wasn’t any self-interest at play,” Kaplan remarked regarding Singh’s cooperation. “Yet, you did the right thing.”
Shortly after the FTX failure in November 2022, Singh admitted guilt for being part of the fraud that siphoned $8 billion from customers’ accounts. He also confessed to violating campaign finance laws by acting as a straw donor — using his name to make political contributions with funds sourced from the company. Singh’s attorneys had sought a sentence with no prison time, while the prosecutors also advocated for leniency.
Singh is among several executives tied to Bankman-Fried’s previous business empire charged with fraud. Last March, Bankman-Fried, 32, was sentenced to 25 years in prison following his conviction on seven counts of fraud and conspiracy at trial the previous year.
The other executives who have been sentenced all pleaded guilty to various financial offenses. Caroline Ellison, another prominent aide to Bankman-Fried, received a two-year prison sentence at a federal court hearing last month. Ryan Salame, an FTX executive, was given a 7.5-year sentence in May for campaign finance infractions. Gary Wang, another leader of the company, is set to be sentenced on November 20.
Singh, a University of California, Berkeley graduate, joined Bankman-Fried’s crypto hedge fund, Alameda Research, in 2017 as a software engineer. Following Bankman-Fried’s establishment of FTX, Singh ascended to one of the company’s top leadership positions and attained billionaire status on paper. Over time, he contributed millions of dollars in campaign donations to left-leaning political causes.
During Bankman-Fried’s trial last fall, Singh provided extensive testimony regarding the FTX collapse, expressing that the company’s downfall led him to contemplate suicide. Singh’s legal representatives, Andrew Goldstein and Russell Capone, informed the judge this month that he had displayed “immediate and exemplary” cooperation.
According to his lawyers, Singh departed FTX’s headquarters in the Bahamas before the company declared bankruptcy and started documenting text messages that were vital to the government’s case against Bankman-Fried.
They also emphasized that Singh only became aware of the central conspiracy regarding the theft of billions in user deposits a mere two months before the company collapsed.
“His involvement was considerably less than that of any other defendant,” the attorneys stated. “He has made every effort to rectify the situation and improve his life.”
This argument played a pivotal role in determining Singh’s sentence.
“Your situation is not akin to that of Ms. Ellison,” Kaplan remarked on Wednesday. “She was involved from the outset.”
Following the collapse of FTX, Singh has been residing in San Francisco with his fiancée, Claire Watanabe, who also worked at the exchange. His legal team stated that he has secured full-time employment as a software engineer at a private firm, where he developed products recently showcased at an artificial intelligence conference. (The name of the company was not disclosed in the filing.)
“Nishad has numerous prospects ahead, both in the short and long term, and is gradually becoming the joyful young man he once was,” his lawyer noted.
In court on Wednesday, Singh was accompanied by his parents, younger brother, Watanabe, along with friends and extended family. “They have supported me through thick and thin,” he expressed in a brief address to the judge. “I aspire to be worthy of their affection.”
Dressed in a light gray suit and a dark red tie, Singh smiled when his sentence was announced, while his family and friends embraced and shed tears.
After delivering the sentence, Kaplan spoke directly to Singh’s tearful parents seated in the front row.
“I don’t see anything wrong with what you did,” he assured them.
