Ex-FTX Execs to Face Sentencing in October, November

Later this year, former FTX executives Nishad Singh and Gary Wang—who both provided testimony during Sam Bankman-Fried’s criminal trial—will be sentenced.

The sentencing hearings for FTX co-founder Gary Wang and former engineering director Nishad Singh have been scheduled by a federal judge who presided over the trial of former FTX CEO Sam “SBF” Bankman-Fried.

Judge Lewis Kaplan announced in a July 9 docket entry in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York that Singh’s sentence would take place on October 30 and Wang’s on November 20. At the time of publishing, Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Alameda Research who provided testimony at SBF’s 2023 trial, was unmentioned.

Among the first to enter guilty pleas were Wang and Ellison, who were accused of playing a part in the 2022 crash of the now-defunct cryptocurrency exchange FTX. In February 2023, Singh pleaded guilty to several felonies, including money laundering and fraud. Judge Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in jail, partly because the three former executives testified against him during his criminal trial.

Prison term for former FTX executive

Judge Kaplan sentenced Ryan Salame, the former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets, to 90 months in prison after he entered a guilty plea to similar crimes and generally disregarded the authorities. He has been posting contentious remarks on his X account since his conviction and is expected to turn himself in to the police on August 29.

Given that both Singh and Wang aided US authorities in the fall of FTX, it is uncertain if they will serve prison terms for their contributions. Wang said during SBF’s criminal trial that he had received a “5K letter” from the government in return for his testimony, enabling the authorities to take into account a “suitable reduction” to the potential penalty.

Singh stated throughout the trial that he “came to distrust” Bankman-Fried because he would “unilaterally spend Alameda’s money.” Wang said in court that the exchange was unable to reimburse user losses because it had misrepresented the amount of its insurance fund through the use of secret code. Ellison’s testimony, as well as those of the other impacted parties, probably helped to secure SBF’s conviction.

While Bankman-Fried’s legal team is ready to file an appeal of his conviction and sentence, he is still being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. As the case proceeds through bankruptcy court and class-action litigation, various claims have been made to the exchange’s assets by parties impacted by FTX’s collapse.