SBF Trial Update: Nishad Singh Purchased $3.7M House Despite Knowing FTX Used Customers’ Funds

Nishad Singh, the former director of engineering at FTX and one of the lieutenants of the embattled crypto mogul Sam Bankman-Fried (SBF), reportedly purchased a $3.7 million vacation home even after knowing about the “hole” in FTX and learning that Alameda Research used FTX customers’ funds.

The development comes after Singh testified in court about SBF’s “excessive” spending during the heyday of the crypto empire.

The FTX’s former chief engineer testified that in the days leading to the collapse of FTX, he felt “suicidal” at times and “blindsided and horrible” after discovering the significant financial deficit in FTX’s balance sheet.

Singh’s narrative of being late in the game in learning about the misuse of FTX customers’ funds filled his testimony in the third week of the controversial fraud trial of Bankman-Fried.

The former director of engineering even recalled on the stand the night he privately talked to Bankman-Fried. According to Singh, he told SBF that he wanted out but said he did not do it because the then FTX CEO needed him and that he wouldn’t be able to live with himself knowing that the crypto empire collapsed because of him.

But things get a lot more interesting during the cross-examination of Singh by Bankman-Fried’s lawyers, particularly when the defense brought up the 10-acre estate he purchased on Orcas Island in Washington State. Singh purchased it just weeks after he first learned about the “missing” $13 billion from the crypto exchange, and a few weeks before FTX filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The purchase of the vacation home took place between mid-to-late October last year, which was after Singh learned about the huge problem FTX was in, based on his testimony that he learned about it in September 2022.

During the cross-examination, Bankman-Fried’s lawyer Mark Cohen asked Singh if he told “prosecutors your spending on the house, and on political contributions, was egregious and unnecessary?”

In response, Singh stated, “I don’t remember if I told them that, but I don’t dispute the characterizations.”

Singh, who is one of the key witnesses of the prosecution, like Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, has pleaded guilty to fraud and conspiracy charges and agreed to work with the government.

During his earlier testimony, Singh called Bankman-Fried’s spending “excessive” and “flashy” and told the court that he “was upset at the endorsement deals, it was a billion dollars. I said this is crazy, cut this.”