A former senior FTX executive, Nishad Singh, who has already pleaded guilty in the FTX trial, testified that SBF used stolen funds as political donations. It is the third week of Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial.
Singh says he knew around $8 billion of FTX customers’ money had gone missing, which is in line with previous testimony by other members of Bankman-Fried’s inner circle. “I had a lot of admiration and respect for him, but over time that eroded,” Singh said of Bankman-Fried, his friend from high school.
According to Singh, that money was apparently funneled to Bankman-Fried’s affiliated trading firm, Alameda Research. He called the financial hole left “enormous.”
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Singh worked at Alameda before FTX was founded. He adds that he was aware from “FTX’s inception” that Alameda accounts had been used to store FTX customer funds. This move was initially designed to circumvent the trouble FTX had with opening its own accounts.
In addition, Singh says he programmed the systems in 2019 that routed FTX user deposits into Alameda bank accounts. Singh also added wire instructions to FTX’s website which, if followed, landed funds in Alameda-controlled accounts.
“I don’t recall it ever being stated that user funds were being taken,” said Singh. “I recall affirmative statements from Sam and others that Alameda didn’t have any special privileges.”
Also Read: Bankman-Fried: Alameda Research Borrowed $13B From FTX
SBF’s Donations To Political Allies
FTX had a sophisticated operation for donating funds to political candidates, Singh says in his testimony. Ryan Salame, an executive at FTX, originated wire transfers from Singh’s Prime Trust account that Singh then had to approve, Singh says. Singh also says in the FTX trial testimony that he signed blank checks that he gave to Gabe Bankman-Fried, SBF’s brother, as political donations to politicians