Former FTX President Hints He’s Cooperating With Crypto Collapse Investigation

The former president of FTX says he’ll reveal his insights about the firm’s collapse “in time.”

During a Twitter exchange late Sunday (Jan. 8), Brett Harrison was asked by a user, “What did you know about @FTX_Official US and when did you know it?”

His reply: “I’ll share in time.”

Another user asked Harrison “How are you not in jail?” to which he replied, “Use powers of inference,” a comment that suggests he may also be cooperating with authorities, alongside other top executives of the failed crypto exchange.

Harrison, who joined FTX in May of 2021, announced in September — also using Twitter — that he was stepping down as the company’s president. He has since reportedly begun raising money for a new crypto startup.

At the time of his resignation, Harrison said the cryptocurrency industry was “at a crossroads” and there would be much to be seen about the friction in the market as bigger players emerge and technology becomes more fragmented and complex.

Harrison’s departure came six weeks before FTX’s implosion, which unfolded over a matter of days following the revelation that the company had used customer funds to prop up sister firm Alameda Research.

By the end of that week, FTX had filed for bankruptcy, founder and former CEO Sam Bankman-Fried had seen his net worth fall by 94%, and investigators around the world were looking into the once popular, well-regarded trading company.

FTX’s collapse happened quickly, but the fallout from its implosion is ongoing, with prosecutors — who have already charged Bankman-Fried and other executives — now looking at a third member of the founder’s inner circle.

Nishad Singh, FTX’s former engineering director, is reportedly under investigation by federal prosecutors, who want to see if he played a part in the alleged fraud at FTX.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are also investigating Singh, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, according to a Bloomberg News report.

The same report noted Singh once lived with Bankman-Fried in a Bahamas penthouse and was part of the former CEO’s inner circle along with former Alameda Research CEO Caroline Ellison and Gary Wang, who founded FTX with Bankman-Fried.

Ellison and Wang pleaded guilty in December to charges against them for their roles in the implosion of FTX and its affiliated companies and are cooperating with investigators.

Bankman-Fried pleaded not guilty last week to numerous charges of fraud and conspiracy. As PYMNTS noted, the plea was in keeping with his ongoing claims that he did not knowingly or intentionally commit fraud. Rather, he simply suffered lapses in oversight while running the multibillion-dollar platform and its widespread group of enterprise affiliates.

For all PYMNTS crypto coverage, subscribe to the daily Crypto Newsletter.