Former FTX Engineering Chief Nishad Singh Escapes Prison Sentence, Ordered to Pay $11B in Restitution

Nishad Singh, the former engineering director of collapsed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, avoided prison time on Wednesday after receiving a sentence of three years supervised release from U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan. The 29-year-old executive, who had pleaded guilty to six criminal charges including fraud and money laundering, was also ordered to forfeit $11 billion in assets.

Judge Kaplan praised Singh’s “remarkable” cooperation with prosecutors and bankruptcy proceedings, noting that his involvement in FTX’s fraudulent activities was “much more limited” than that of former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried or former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison. “You did the right thing, quickly,” Kaplan told Singh during the Manhattan federal court hearing.

Singh’s lenient sentence stands in stark contrast to those of his former colleagues. Bankman-Fried received 25 years in prison, while Ellison was sentenced to two years despite her cooperation. Former FTX Digital Markets co-CEO Ryan Salame began serving his seven-and-a-half-year sentence earlier this month.

Current FTX CEO John Ray III supported Singh’s case for leniency, highlighting his valuable assistance in the bankruptcy proceedings. In a letter to the court, Ray emphasized Singh’s “extensive knowledge of FTX’s systems and processes” and his crucial role in maximizing creditor recovery.

Speaking at his sentencing, Singh expressed remorse for his actions, telling the court he “wanted to be someone who contributes positively to society.” His attorneys noted that he only became aware of the conspiracy to misuse customer funds in September 2022, just two months before FTX’s collapse.

Singh, who joined FTX’s affiliated hedge fund Alameda in 2017 after leaving Facebook, now works as a software engineer in San Francisco, focusing on artificial intelligence projects. The final sentencing in the FTX saga will be that of co-founder Gary Wang, scheduled for November 20.