Nishad Singh, a former executive at the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX, avoided additional jail time on Wednesday after a federal judge credited his "remarkable" cooperation with prosecutors in the multi-billion dollar fraud case.
Singh, a childhood friend of Sam Bankman-Fried who'd go on to share a $35m Bahamas penthouse with the FTX founder, ultimately became a prosecution witness against the latter after accepting a plea deal in which he pleaded guilty to six felony counts of fraud and conspiracy. In part due to Singh's testimony, Bankman-Fried was sentenced to 25 years' imprisonment earlier in the year.
Prior to Singh's sentencing, defense attorney Andrew Goldstein called for no jail time, stating that his client only knew of the wrongdoing two months before the collapse of FTX. Assistant US Attorney Nicolas Roos also called for leniency, stating that without Singh's testimony, certain crimes — including his own — would never have been revealed.
Despite of his involvement in one of the biggest frauds perpetrated in American history, Singh went above and beyond to help prosecutors, helping them uncover crimes they alone would have been unable to reveal. Unlike the other employees of FTX, Singh also became aware of the crimes at a much later stage — an important factor in this case.