Top FTX Executive Says Sam Bankman-Fried Used Customer Money for ‘Excess’ Spending – The New York Times

Nishad Singh, a former top executive at the once high-flying FTX crypto exchange, testified on Monday that his former boss, Sam Bankman-Fried, had used customer money to engage in large and extravagant spending sprees that “reeked of excess.”

At Mr. Bankman-Fried’s criminal fraud trial, which has become a referendum on the cryptocurrency industry’s volatility and risk-taking, Mr. Singh said he had clashed with the FTX founder over the hundreds of millions of dollars that the company used to buy lavish real estate, invest in start-ups and sign celebrities and sports stars like Tom Brady, Steph Curry and Larry David.

“I felt embarrassed and ashamed,” Mr. Singh, 28, said of one investment that FTX made in a firm, K5, that had ties to many celebrities.

Source: Top FTX Executive Says Sam Bankman-Fried Used Customer Money for ‘Excess’ Spending – The New York Times