Nishad Singh, former director of engineering at FTX, testified this week against his former boss Sam Bankman-Fried, detailing a software bug that hid billions in missing funds and excessive spending on celebrities and real estate.
Singh Points Finger at $8 Billion Bug and Bankman-Fried’s Spending Sprees
Nishad Singh told the court that a coding error he helped create prevented proper accounting of FTX and Alameda Research, allowing Alameda to secretly build up an $8 billion negative balance using customer funds.
“The bug prevented the correct accounting for the fiat@ FTX account – the error grew to $8 billion,” Singh said. “I overheard a conversation between Gary and Adam Yedidia about it.” The courthouse play-by-play was published by Matthew Russell Lee from the Inner City Press.
The ex-director also described Bankman-Fried’s lavish expenditures, including a $30 million penthouse in the Bahamas that Singh called “too ostentatious.” He said FTX spent over $1 billion on celebrity endorsement deals, real estate, and parties.
“I saw them in the Albany penthouse. This a photo of Katy Perry in green, Orlando Bloom in a [hat], Michael Kives – and Sam,” Singh said about one event attended by celebrities. He expressed concerns to SBF about the deals, but said Bankman-Fried dismissed his objections.
Singh told prosecutors he felt “betrayed” and questioned Bankman-Fried about Alameda’s growing debt, but said SBF was “unsurprised.” After an hour-long private talk on a penthouse balcony, Singh said he still feared leaving and precipitating FTX’s collapse.
The former engineer described SBF’s physical “twitches” and said Bankman-Fried pressured him to take over duties so SBF could spend time on deals. “Sam said, I need you Nishad to take this kind of work off my plate,” Singh recalled. “I was afraid.”
Though concerned, Singh followed orders to process political donations through his personal account at Wells Fargo. He described a Signal chat for laundering funds called “Donations Processing” involving SBF’s brother Gabe. SBF’s brother Gabe was in charge of Guarding Against Pandemics (GAP).
Singh testified he used Prime Trust and Wells Fargo accounts to funnel contributions – illegally provided by Alameda – to Democrats at SBF’s direction. The donations were allegedly made in Singh’s name for “optics,” he said.
After pleading guilty, the former FTX engineer is now a cooperating witness against Bankman-Fried. His testimony provides an inside account of misused customer funds, known coding errors, and the high-rolling lifestyle around SBF that contributed to FTX’s stunning collapse.
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