FTX co-founder Gary Wang receives no prison time following fallout of crypto exchange: reports
Quick Take
- Gary Wang pleaded guilty in December 2022 to fraud-related charges following the collapse of FTX a month earlier.
- Bankman-Fried and Wang first met at a summer math camp during high school and maintained their friendship through college at MIT.
FTX co-founder Gary Wang was given no prison time after cooperating with authorities and testifying at his former boss' criminal trial, according to Inner City Press and Reuters.
During the sentencing hearing on Wednesday, one prosecutor said Wang was the “easiest cooperator” they’ve worked with and provided essential information to them, Inner City Press reported.
Judge Lewis Kaplan of New York said he had “never seen something like what happened here” and added that Wang did the “right thing,” according to Inner City Press.
Wang pleaded guilty in December 2022 to fraud-related charges following the collapse of FTX a month earlier. The exchange subsequently filed for bankruptcy following a liquidity crisis and fraud allegations. Alameda Research, which was later revealed to have closer ties than realized to FTX, also fell.
Former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried was sentenced to nearly 25 years in prison on March 28 and ordered to pay back up to $11 billion in investor and lender losses. He was found guilty in November 2023 of seven criminal counts, including two counts each of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, as well as several counts of conspiracy to commit securities and commodities fraud, among other criminal acts.
Bankman-Fried and Wang first met at a summer math camp during high school and maintained their friendship through college at MIT. Later, Bankman-Fried approached Wang about starting a cryptocurrency trading firm, Alameda Research.
"However, he was not one of the publicly named co-founders, nor was he in a leadership position. Instead, he focused on writing computer code to assist Alameda in its trading operations," prosecutors said in a sentencing submission on Nov. 13.
Later, Bankman-Fried proposed founding FTX with Wang, who became the chief technology officer. Prosecutors allege that Bankman-Fried ultimately made the decisions, even overruling Wang’s objections.
Wang later went on to testify at Bankman-Fried's trial, where he told the court about special privileges that Bankman-Fried secretly granted Alameda Research's accounts on FTX.
Other former FTX executives have been sentenced over the past few months. Nishad Singh, FTX's former engineering director, was given no prison time but three years of supervised release last month after pleading guilty and cooperating with authorities. Former co-CEO of Alameda Caroline Ellison was sentenced in September to two years in prison for her role after cooperating with prosecutors. Former co-CEO of FTX Digital Markets Ryan Salame began his prison sentence of seven and a half years last month.
Update: Nov. 20, 3:45 p.m. UTC to include details throughout
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