Former FTX exec becomes third Bankman-Fried associate to meet with prosecutors - report

U.S. federal prosecutors are closing in on Sam Bankman-Fried's inner circle as former FTX ( FTT-USD ) director of engineering Nishad Singh was said to have engaged with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of New York to seek a plea deal . That marks the third Bankman-Fried associate who met with prosecutors with the hope of getting a cooperation deal in the lingering fraud case over the implosion of the once-mighty cryptocurrency exchange. Recall on Dec. 21 when Caroline Ellison, the former CEO of Bankman-Fried's trading firm Alameda Research, and Gary Wang, an FTX co-founder and former chief technology officer, both pleaded guilty to fraud charges and are cooperating with authorities. Singh, an ex-roommate of SBF in the Bahamas who has not been accused of any wrongdoing, met with prosecutors in a proffer session, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter, while noting such a meeting doesn't automatically lead to a plea deal. Prosecutors are hoping to gather information from Singh about FTX's and SBF's outsized political donations. Singh himself was a "Democrat mega-donor," as Bloomberg put it. Since 2020, he was said to have donated over $9.3M to Democratic candidates and committees. In the midst of FTX's bankruptcy case, CoinDesk reported on Monday that around 117 parties are interested in buying certain FTX units .