Former co-lead engineer of FTX charged by SEC for fraud

Nishad Singh, the ex-Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Ltd, has been charged by the SEC for actively participating in a multi-year scheme to deceive equity investors of FTX.

The result of the alleged fraud was the diversion of FTX customer funds to a crypto hedge fund owned by Sam Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang.

The ex-Co-Lead Engineer of FTX Trading Ltd, Nishad Singh, has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) for his role in a multi-year scheme to defraud equity investors in FTX.

Singh developed a software code that, as per the SEC, facilitated the transfer of FTX customer funds to Alameda Research, a crypto hedge fund co-owned by Samuel Bankman-Fried and Gary Wang.

As FTX approached collapse, Singh actively participated in the scheme to deceive its investors and withdrew around $6 million from the company for personal use and expenses.

The complaint from the SEC aims to obtain an injunction against committing future violations of securities law, as well as the return of profits obtained by illicit means, a financial penalty, and a prohibition against serving as an officer or director.

Singh has agreed to a settlement that is divided into parts and is pending court approval. The SEC alleges that Singh knew or should have known that false assurances by Bankman-Fried to investors that FTX was a safe asset trading platform with solid risk mitigation to protect customer assets were misleading.