The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has finalized a disgorgement order against former FTX engineering head Nishad Singh with no civil penalty imposed, closing the first individual case in the agency's multi-year FTX enforcement action.
In addition to the $3.7 million disgorgement, the consent order imposes a five-year trading ban and an eight-year registration ban. The CFTC waived restitution and civil penalties, citing Singh's cooperation and his joint and several liability for an $11.02 billion criminal forfeiture order.
Still, the resolution of Singh’s case points to the Commission’s stance on “rewarding and incentivizing material assistance” for its investigations, Miller added.
Singh's settlement represents the first individual case the CFTC has fully resolved in its FTX enforcement action, which began in December 2022.
He served as FTX's head of engineering and admitted in his February 2023 guilty plea to maintaining code that allowed Alameda Research to withdraw billions in customer funds from the exchange without disclosure.
“It’s almost impossible to quantify the role of someone building systems that enabled the misappropriation of customer funds, because systems are systems,” Christian Ruz, business strategy director at crypto agency Hype, told Decrypt.
Singh "built a centralized system to manage deposits, customer funds and trading activities," Ruz said, adding that such a system is "neither good nor bad on its own, but it's how you use it."
A fourth round of repayments worth $2.2 billion began Tuesday.
Ruz said the remaining CFTC cases could take longer to resolve, estimating closure by mid 2027.
“We know how justice works and this is one of the most complex cases, and parties involved will try to delay the final verdict,” he added.
