By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Former cryptocurrency government Nishad Singh, who as soon as shared a $35 million Bahamas penthouse with FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, was spared jail time by a choose on Wednesday for his function within the theft by his imprisoned former boss of about $8 billion in buyer funds from the now-bankrupt alternate.
Throughout a listening to in Manhattan federal courtroom, U.S. District Decide Lewis Kaplan imposed no jail time however ordered three years of supervised launch. Kaplan credited Singh for cooperating with prosecutors and coming clear about his actions in what the choose mentioned “could have been the best monetary fraud in American historical past.”
Singh, who had pleaded responsible to 6 felony counts of fraud and conspiracy, testified final yr as a prosecution witness within the trial that led to Bankman-Fried’s conviction on fraud and different prices. Singh in a plea take care of prosecutors admitted to his function within the fraud and to serving as a “straw donor” in a few of Bankman-Fried’s thousands and thousands of {dollars} in political donations.
“I’m overwhelmed with regret for the hurt that I participated in and that I prompted to so many harmless folks,” Singh instructed the choose on the listening to. “I strayed so removed from my values.”
Prosecutors had urged leniency for the 29-year-old Singh, FTX’s former chief engineer, in gentle of his cooperation. His protection legal professionals had beneficial he serve no jail time.
Bankman-Fried, 32, is serving a 25-year jail sentence imposed by Kaplan stemming from FTX’s November 2022 collapse.
Kaplan final month sentenced Caroline Ellison, Bankman-Fried’s former girlfriend and an government at FTX’s sister hedge fund Alameda Analysis, to 2 years in jail. The choose additionally had praised her cooperation, however mentioned that such help was not a “get out of jail free card” contemplating her function in a case this critical.
The choose instructed Singh that his involvement “was far more restricted than, actually, Bankman-Fried and Ellison.”
Gary Wang, a 3rd former FTX government who cooperated with prosecutors, is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 20.
Through the listening to, Singh mentioned he regarded as much as and supported…
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