Former FTX execs, government witnesses to be sentenced this fall

Nishad Singh and Gary Wang will be sentenced almost a year after Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial

article-image

Kiran Jyothi VP/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

share

Two former FTX executives who pleaded guilty and cooperated with the government will be sentenced in New York in the fall. 

Former Director of Engineering Nishad Singh and former Chief Technology Officer Gary Wang will be sentenced on Oct. 30, 2024 and Nov. 20, 2024, respectively. 

Singh, an old high school classmate of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, pleaded guilty to four federal counts in February 2023. He testified at Bankman-Fried’s trial that hedge fund Alameda Research took billions of dollars from FTX, at Bankman-Fried’s direction. 

“I’ve always been intimidated [of Bankman-Fried],” Singh said during the November trial. “Sam’s a formidable character… I think over time a lot of that eroded.” 

Wang, who pleaded guilty to four federal counts of fraud and conspiracy in December 2022, also helped paint an incriminating picture of Bankman-Fried to the jury. Wang created special advantages for Alameda Research that were not available to other FTX customers, allowing the hedge fund to place orders faster. These privileges ultimately resulted in the $8 billion hole Alameda owed the FTX exchange by the time the company collapsed in the fall of 2022. 

The scheduling update comes roughly six weeks after Ryan Salame, another one of Bankman-Fried’s former associates, was sentenced to 7.5 years in prison. Salame in September 2023 pleaded guilty to two federal counts of campaign finance violations and operating an unlicensed money-transmitting business. 

Salame, the first among Bankman-Fried’s former associates to be sentenced, is the only one of the four former FTX executives who pleaded guilty that did not testify against Bankman-Fried during his trial last fall. 

Federal Judge Lewis Kaplan, who oversaw Bankman-Fried’s trial and will sentence all other parties, opted to hand down a punishment just above the government’s recommendation for Salame, which was five to seven years in prison. 

Salame’s minimal cooperation, the prosecution said in their sentencing memo in May, meant his contributions to the case against Bankman-Fried were “relatively minor.” 

Given Nishad and Wang’s cooperation as witnesses, and the fact that they both pleaded guilty months before Salame, should result in more lenient sentences, although both could face decades. 

Caroline Ellison, former CEO of Alameda Research and fellow government witness, has not yet had her sentencing date scheduled. Ellison pleaded guilty to seven federal counts which carry a maximum sentence of 110 years in prison.


Start your day with top crypto insights from David Canellis and Katherine Ross. Subscribe to the Empire newsletter.

Explore the growing intersection between crypto, macroeconomics, policy and finance with Ben Strack, Casey Wagner and Felix Jauvin. Subscribe to the Forward Guidance newsletter.

Get alpha directly in your inbox with the 0xResearch newsletter — market highlights, charts, degen trade ideas, governance updates, and more.

The Lightspeed newsletter is all things Solana, in your inbox, every day. Subscribe to daily Solana news from Jack Kubinec and Jeff Albus.

Tags

Upcoming Events

Salt Lake City, UT

MON - TUES, OCT. 7 - 8, 2024

Blockworks and Bankless in collaboration with buidlbox are excited to announce the second installment of the Permissionless Hackathon – taking place October 7-8 in Salt Lake City, Utah. We’ve partnered with buidlbox to bring together the brightest minds in crypto for […]

Salt Lake City, UT

WED - FRI, OCTOBER 9 - 11, 2024

Permissionless is a conference for founders, application developers, and users. Come meet the next generation of people building and using crypto.

Javits Center North | 445 11th Ave

Tues - Thurs, March 18 - 20, 2025

Blockworks’ Digital Asset Summit (DAS) will feature conversations between the builders, allocators, and legislators who will shape the trajectory of the digital asset ecosystem in the US and abroad.

recent research

4.png

Research

This months PPGC covered four main areas. Firstly, debriefing the progress and status of the mainnet implementation of the Ahmedabad hard fork. Secondly, a retrospective on the testnet phase of the Ahemdabad Hard Fork. Thirdly, an update on PIP-36 which involves replaying failed state syncs. Lastly, PIP-47 which pushes upgrades to the Polygon Protocol Council.

article-image

Institutions to test out the settlement of “digital assets and currencies” on a network that annually carries more than 5 billion financial messages

article-image

After Bitwise’s XRP ETF filing this week, one industry watcher notes: “Politics will determine whether this happens soon or in a few years”

article-image

Plus, a look back at some of the SEC’s biggest enforcement moves under Gurbir Grewal

article-image

The forward-looking financial system is being championed by several contributors to India’s UPI digital money system

article-image

Multiple teams are pursuing integration cross-chain and off-chain

article-image

An SEC spokesperson told Blockworks the Ripple judgment clashes with Supreme Court precedent and securities laws